


a holiday kind of love (that might just be real)

by Dinosaur1212



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Dani is a teacher, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, New Year's Eve, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, christmas holiday au!, eddie isnt dead, even hannah, eventual fluff and angst, everyone is lowkey (highkey) invested in jamie's lovelife, flora and miles still have dead parents tho, flora is the impetus for everything, he still is one though, jamie is dumb and says she's dating someone, jamie needs a date to christmas dinner, just a casual lesbian romance, no supernatural stuff!, oh I almost forgot!, one big dysfunctional family at bly manor, perspective goes between dani and jamie, peter isn't as much of an asshole, she lives in a lil apartment, tbh he'll only be mentioned, there will be a drunk dani, who will admit they're in love with the other first, will be basing it off the show and maybe personal experiences (behavior wise)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27675523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinosaur1212/pseuds/Dinosaur1212
Summary: jamie says she's dating someone, and everyone pushes her to invite the lucky person to christmas dinner. dani is new to england after breaking things off with her fiancé. when the two meet in a pub one night, they make a plan. dani will help her out and be her date to christmas dinner. what they don't foresee is what happens when things might just be turning real
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 39
Kudos: 406





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! if you're familiar with my works, you'll know reading the notes are very important for certain things, so check them out please! regardless, this is a modern day setting fake dating au that came to me as i got in the christmas spirit, which was also coincidentally after i finished watching bly manor. i'm going to try and keep the posting of everything in this fic so that it almost lines up with how much time passes between events in the fic, so that means y'all have to wait until dec 25th for the actual christmas dinner. i know, it's over a month away, but dani and jamie do have to get their crap together for their plan so, yeah
> 
> anyways, enjoy!!

If there was one thing Jamie Taylor was able to avoid being talked about at Bly Manor, that would be her love life. Or if she was being honest, the lack of one. Which is why she was caught off guard when it came up during a Sunday dinner towards the end of November. In fact, it was the last thing she had been expecting, but it came up nonetheless.

But before that conversation is discussed, it’s important to note that life at Bly Manor wasn’t exactly the traditional sense that many other people live. At Bly Manor, it was a ragtag group of people that came together to become a family. Jamie thought she had just been signing up to be the gardener, but it turned out rather quickly that she had ended up finding a family she had long wanted to find. There was Owen, the cook, who was only in Bly to care for his mother, but had become part of the family. Then there was Hannah who had worked at Bly Manor for the longest time, and in fact lived on the grounds at this point.There was also the current au pair, Rebecca, who had managed to become the newest member of the weird sense of family that existed. Then there was Peter who seemed to have a thing for Rebecca, but Jamie found him to be, for lack of a better word, a dick. That only left three people left: Miles and Flora, as well as their uncle Henry. Henry had become their caretaker after the loss of their parents, and while he wasn’t the best, he was still trying his best.

Now, the conversation this particular Sunday began innocently enough. It all started with a question by Flora that had been directed towards Peter.

“Peter, what’s it like being in love?”

A confused laugh escaped Peter’s mouth, but he answered with a question of his own, “What makes you ask that, Flora?”

Jamie just looked on with a curious expression, but she had an idea of what Flora was referencing. She had seen how Peter acted around the au pair, and as much as she despised Peter as a person he at least seemed genuine in his intentions with Rebecca so far. Although, she reasoned, she had been wrong about stuff before, and she wouldn’t be surprised if she was now.

“I just thought you would know,” Flora answered, “All I know is what’s in my storybooks, but I fear it’s not that accurate.”

Everyone else just looked on in interest at how Peter was going to respond, especially Rebecca. Hannah, for once, wasn’t scolding Flora for bringing a topic up like this at an inappropriate time, which Jamie noted was out of character, but maybe Hannah had a feeling that Peter liked Rebecca as well.

It was then that the conversation took a turn Jamie was not expecting, as Peter answered, “I’m not one to speak on that. Maybe Jamie has an idea. Why don’t you ask her?”

All eyes turned to Jamie then, and Jamie was left stunned at how she had somehow become the center of the conversation, so she didn’t say anything, instead a part of her hoped the conversation would change, but it didn’t.

“I second that,” Owen smirked, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Jamie mention her dating life a single time in her life.”

“Maybe because it’s none of your business?” Hannah asked.

Rebecca spoke up then, “But Owen does have a point. I mean we’ve all shared a story of past loves with each other, but Jamie always has stayed quiet.”

“That must mean she doesn’t know then,” Flora frowned.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Miles reasoned, “She could very well be in love.”

“Kids, that’s enough,” Henry warned, but offered no warning to the adults who seemed to be pressing the matter. He couldn’t control them after all; they were adults who were capable of making their own decisions. Which might be why he pushed the matter further as well, “Rebecca does have a point though.”

Jamie just stared at Henry for a few seconds; she was completely taken aback by how everyone at the table seemed to want to know about her, and she really didn’t want to look like someone who didn’t know what love was. In essence, she was left with only two options: look like a loser who didn’t know what love was, or make up a person that she would hopefully never have to bring up again. Of course, Jamie went for the latter.

“I’m talking to someone, if you all must know.”

“Is that so?” Peter inquired as he set his fork down on his plate so that he could put his hand under his chin, “Did someone finally manage to break down your walls?”

Jamie glared at him, but answered nonetheless, “Yes, someone did manage to break down the so called walls you mentioned.”

“Well then I insist that you invite them to Christmas dinner,” Henry declared.

“Oh that would be perfectly splendid!” Flora exclaimed, a smile on her face.

“I’d be more than happy to cook for another person,” Owen remarked, “Granted I think I already do make enough for at least five other people, at least for Sunday dinners.”

Hannah smiled at Owen as she commented, “That you do, but it does give you enough to take back to your mom.”

“Yeah, I suppose it does,” Owen responded before he changed the topic back to Jamie, “But yes, please do bring your lover. That way I can win another person over with my amazing cooking.”

Jamie realized she was in way over her head at this point, but she still found herself responding, “I’ll make sure to invite her. I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to come.”

“Excellent,” Henry remarked as he reached for another roll, “It’ll be nice having another person at the dinner table with us to celebrate.”

\--------------------------

Dani Clayton was still rather new to England, having only moved there before the school year started after she managed to land a job at a school. Her mom had told her she was running away from her problems, specifically the recent breakup between her and her fiance, but Dani didn’t see it that way. For her, she was simply exploring all the paths she could go down in life, and maybe a part of it was her running away from her problems, but she felt the most free she had ever felt in her life.

Which may be the reason she found herself in a random pub in a small town on a school night. She hadn’t really been drinking, instead she was there to get out of the small apartment she lived in in a different town. Money was tight, so she couldn’t afford to drink a lot even if she wanted to, but that didn’t stop her from allowing herself one beer, which she had been nursing for the past hour as she tried to ignore the multiple guys that had been staring at her from across the bar. She was really hoping none of them walked over to her, because she really didn’t feel like telling them they weren’t her type at all.

So maybe she was thankful when someone sat down on the stool next to her. Even more in her favor, it was another woman. That put Dani’s mind at ease that it wasn’t some creepy man, however, she noticed that the woman seemed to be stressed to some degree based upon her demeanor.

In all of her genius, Dani decided to strike up a conversation with the woman, “Tough day?”

At first it was like the woman hadn’t heard her, but then she looked at Dani, “If you’re talking to me, I guess you could say that.”

“I was,” Dani stated but then clarified, “Talking to you that is. You looked stressed, I mean you still kinda do.” Dani shut up then, the realization having dawned on her that she was beginning to put her foot in her mouth.

A laugh escaped the woman’s mouth as she responded, “Wow, you sure to have a way with words, don’t you?”

Dani smiled, partly out of embarrassment, but she answered the woman regardless, “They’ve never been my strong suit. It’s gotten me in trouble enough times.”

“I can see why,” was all the woman stated before she changed the subject entirely, “I haven’t seen you here before. Are you new to town?”

It was Dani’s turn to laugh, albeit out of nervousness, “I’m still rather new to the whole country to be honest. However, I do live in the next town over, but I decided to explore somewhere new tonight.” When the woman beside her just nodded as if she was just taking the information on, Dani rambled on, “I just needed to get out of my apartment. There’s only so much staring at the same four walls all weekend a person can do.”

The woman still didn’t say anything, and Dani was beginning to fret that she had said something horribly wrong, so she tried to take things back to basic introductory stuff by introducing herself, “I’m Dani by the way.”

“Well Dani,” the woman finally answered, “It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jamie.”

“You as well,” Dani said, then frowned before she asked, “How did you know I haven’t been here before?” She hadn’t picked up on it at first, but now she was curious as to how Jamie had recognized her as a new face in the bar.

“Two reasons,” Jamie began as she propped her left elbow up on the bar then faced more towards Dani, “The first being that you do have a dreadfully obvious American accent. The second being that I live in the apartment above this bar so I’m a frequent occupant of this wonderful establishment.”

Dani nodded as she hadn’t thought about her accent that seemed perfectly normal to her, which she acknowledged, “I suppose the accent would give it away. It slips my mind sometimes that I technically have one here.”

Just then the bartender interrupted their conversation, “Hey Jamie. What can I get ya?”

“The usual, Hank. You know I don’t deviate from it,” Jamie responded, however, she didn’t look away from Dani as she replied. And when the bartender waked away to make her drink, she spoke to Dani again, “Well it’s not every day we get someone from the States here.”

“I suppose not,” Dani mused. 

The conversation lulled into silence for a few moments as the bartender gave Jamie her drink, and Dani sipped on hers. A part of Dani wondered if trying to keep up the conversation was worth it; Jamie was a stranger to her after all, but Dani was so tired of not having anyone to talk to in England, so maybe just this one she would indulge herself in the company of another person who didn’t seem like a bad person.

“So why’d you have a tough day?” Dani finally asked a few moments later. It had been where their conversation had started, and it seemed like a good place to go back to talking about, although she did recognize that she might seem nosy.

Jamie shook her head, but nonetheless answered the question, “I’m a gardener at this manor not far from here, and we’re all sort of a family there. And somehow today everyone seemed to gang up on me about my love life, so I made a stupid comment that I was talking to someone, and they insisted a bring them to Christmas dinner in a month.”

“That definitely qualifies as a tough day,” Dani remarked. Her mind monetarily drifted towards the mess that was her love life at Jamie’s response, but she shoved the thought out of her mind. Eddie was just a part of her life she left behind in America; he had no place taking up space in her thoughts now that she was in England.

“Yeah, it wasn’t exactly my shining moment,” Jamie said before she drank more of her drink, “I suppose I have to go through with it though. Can’t have them mocking me for making up an imaginary girlfriend.”

The change was slight, but Dani could tell how Jamie’s voice became quieter towards the end of her sentence. She didn’t point it out though, instead she cleared her throat and formulated her own response, “We all have moments like that where we say stupid stuff, but that doesn’t mean you have to go through with it.”

Jamie sighed and leaned back in her chair, “But I do, and it’s mainly because of one person. I don’t want to give him something to hold over me.”

“Then it sounds like you need to get to finding someone to help you out,” Dani observed. She didn’t know what to think about the predicament Jamie seemed to be in, but it was definitely interesting to say the least.

“I suppose I do,” Jamie replied, her voice strained, “I could always offer to pay someone to help me out.”

And for the second time in the past six months, Dani found herself doing something completely absurd, the first being breaking off her engagement. Dani found herself offering herself to be Jamie’s plus one.

“I could do it,” Dani rushed out before she halted herself and continued slower, “What I mean is I could always do it. Sure, we just met, but my life could use some excitement. Of course only if you’re cool with it.”

“Fortunately for you,” Jamie began, “You’re the only one offering to help with the mess I’m in. So I’ll take what I can get.”

Dani chuckled, unable to believe she had actually offered to take part in this plan. Then again, she always did have a tendency to say things before she thought through the repercussions of her actions. “Just promise me this isn’t going to end up with me dead in a ditch somewhere, because I fell for some trap.”

“No traps here. I can promise you that,” Jamie answered before she continued, “This means we’ll have to plan a day to get together again so we can talk through how we’re going to go about this.”

“Of course,” Dani assured, “I teach all day during the week, so it would have to be in the night if you wanted to do it during the week.” She knew she should back out right then and there from whatever she was getting herself into; she knew the outcome would only be messy. There were only how many movies that depicted how scenarios like this played out, but unlike real life, the movies all had happy endings. Real life didn’t always guarantee that.

“How about you give me your number then, that way we can work it out,” Jamie suggested as she reached into her pocket to pull out a phone. She unlocked it and handed it over to Dani, “This way we can communicate quickly if one of us has to cancel.”

Dani took the phone and started typing in her number while she also answered Jamie, “That makes sense.” She double checked to make sure her number was entered correctly and then she saved her number before she handed the phone back to Jamie, “There you go.”

Jamie nodded in thanks, “I’ll send you a text that way you have my number as well.”

It was seconds later that Danie felt her phone buzz in her pocket, which meant that Jamie must’ve sent the text. Rather than look at it, Dani asked a question, “So did we really just skip past the whole becoming friends thing and go straight to a couple?” Her question got the desired reaction as Jamie just shook her head and laughed, which caused Dani to smile.

“In theory at least,” Jamie replied as she slid her phone back into her pocket, “Now I guess we just make a preliminary plan of when we’ll meet up again.”

“Then let’s get to it,” Dani stated. She picked her drink up off the bar and took a sip before she set it back down on the table, her attention once again focused on Jamie who had begun to suggest times for their next encounter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hi! happy thanksgiving to all who celebrate it!! i hope everyone has an awesome day regardless!

It was exactly a week later when Dani saw Jamie again. This time she had invited the gardener to her quaint little apartment. She had attempted to clean up some of the various messes that existed within it, but there were a few she had been unable to attend to. The most obvious being the pile of homework all over her coffee table.

She had been left with her thoughts, and her job of course, since the last time she had seen Jamie, and she couldn’t help but begin to have even more serious doubts about what she was getting herself into. There were so many things that could go wrong, and Dani wasn’t sure she would be able to endure the potential fallout, whatever it may be.

But then there was a knock on her door, and there Jamie was, a smile on her face followed by a greeting, “Hey there.”

“Hey,” Dani breathed out as she stepped aside to let Jamie in, followed by her closing the door. Dani maintained control of the conversation as she asked, “Did you find this place okay?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad,” Jamie responded. Her gaze wandered around the apartment as she continued speaking, “Nice place you got here.”

Dani offered a small smile to the compliment, “Thanks. It’s not much, but I think I’ve made it a decent home.”

Jamie didn’t say anything, instead just made a face that made Dani want to question it.

“What?” Dani finally asked. She began to move towards the chairs in her living room, Jamie right behind her as they sat down.

“Nothing,” Jamie shook her head, but yet explained herself further, “It’s just you struck me as the person who views a home as a person, not four walls and a roof.”

Dani frowned. The comment had caught her off guard, because it was such an exact observation to make after only just meeting someone, and it wasn’t anything anyone had ever said to Dani in her life. If she was being honest, she had never even considered the possibility, but then again, she had never really been with someone that had made her feel like she was home. Things with Eddie had been decent, but they had never felt right to her. So she wasn’t one to know if what Jamie had said was accurate or not.

Dani must’ve taken too long to respond, because Jamie was speaking again, “Sorry if that came out of nowhere. I shouldn’t have even said anything.”

“No, it’s fine,” Dani hurriedly responded, before she clarified, “It’s just no one has ever said that to me before. It caught me off guard.”

“It was weird though,” Jamie remarked. She leaned back in the chair she was seated on, and looked down at the coffee table, “I take it you teach?” 

“I do,” Dani answered, “I meant to move those papers, but I didn’t get around to it.” She moved forward in her chair and moved some of the piles in order to create one giant pile, “There, that makes some room.” 

“You didn’t have to do that,” Jamie said, her gaze now focused back on Dani.

Dani shrugged, “I know. It’s just I thought if you wanted a drink, it would give you a place to set it.”

Jamie nodded in understanding, “I suppose that does make sense. I’m good for now, though.”

“Well if you want anything, I’ll be happy to get it,” Dani responded before she changed the topic to something different, “So how are you?”

“Oh you know,” Jamie waved her hand, “Dealing with the incessant questions from everyone at Bly Manor about who I’m going to be bringing to Christmas dinner.” There was a pause as Jamie cleared her throat, but then she was talking again, “I’ve managed to satisfy them all with vague answers. I guess when I’ve never talked about my love life before, the bare minimum is more than sufficient for them.”

Dani shifted in her chair in an attempt to get more comfortable as she responded, “Sounds like you work with a bunch of nosy people.”

“Tell me about it,” Jamie groaned, “It’s never ending, and I think they have the one kid, Flora, coming to ask me questions, because she is always hunting me down in the greenhouse to ask oddly specific questions.”

“What does she ask you?” Dani questioned, confused as to how the questions could be oddly specific.

“Oh where to start,” Jamie sighed, a momentary pause as she decided how to answer, “What made it obvious was, for an eight year old, her asking me the really specific question of where I met you and who asked who out first. Nothing like the usual questions she asks.”

Dani frowned, to her those seemed like perfectly normal questions for an eight year old to ask; they were curious at that age she had come to learn from her teaching experiences. However, she didn’t question it, because she assumed Jamie would know the girl better than her. Instead, she asked, “Well what did you tell her? Because we do need to get our story straight.”

“I told her the truth,” Jamie responded. She pushed before explaining further, “At least as close to the truth as I could. I told her how we met at the pub I live above after work one day, and how you talked to me. Told her it was pretty much smooth sailing after that.”

“I guess it’s true that every lie has some semblance of honest truth to it,” Dani admitted in a somewhat quiet voice. She cleared her throat then, and spoke again, this time in a louder voice, “Which is good in this situation. It’s less lies we have to keep track of if we stick close to the truth.”

Jamie nodded, “That’s what I had thought. Great minds think alike.”

“Yeah,” Dani smiled, “I guess they do.”

—————————————

Jamie had been at Dani’ apartment for a little over two hours. Their conversation had dwindled further away from the fake relationship they would be putting on at Christmas, and was now moving more towards personal stuff, although Jamie reasoned it would also be a part of the guise they were working under. 

“So what made you move to England to teach?” Jamie finally asked. She had been curious since she had first noticed the stack of ungraded assignments on the table. As far as she knew, it wasn’t common for Americans to just decide to come to England to teach. 

“Oh well,” Dani faltered, “I’ve always wanted to come to England, so I applied for the job. I didn’t think I’d get it, but I did, so I moved here.”

Jamie didn’t know what to say at first, although she could tell that Dani seemed to be hiding at least a portion of the story. And for whatever reason, Jamie wanted to see if she’d be able to find it out, so she posed a somewhat vague statement , “It must’ve been hard to say goodbye to everyone you know in America.”

“Yeah, it was,” Dani answered, although her voice was hollow, far from the upbeat tone she always seemed to maintain, “Some more so than others.”

The shift in Dani’s mood was noted by Jamie, who had come to realize there was much more to the story than Dani was willing to admit thus far. It did make sense, though, because after all they were still pretty much strangers to one another. So Jamie tried to reroute the conversation away from Dani’s move to England, “I think I’ll take you up on your drink offer.”

Dani’s demeanor shifted back to that of the one she always portrayed as she stood up, “Of course. Is there anything you’d prefer? I don’t have much in terms of drinks. If I’m being honest, all I have besides water is stuff to make tea and coffee.”

The mention of tea caught Jamie’s attention. An American making tea would definitely be an experience, which is how she found herself responding with, “Tea sounds good.”

Her response must’ve caught Dani off guard, because Dani opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it and walked away to the stove. There was silence until Dani admitted, “I’m not sure how good at tea I am.”

Jamie looked over her shoulder to where Dani was, in order to answer, “I’m sure it will be fine.”

\--------------------------

“I lied,” Jamie said as she choked down the mouthful of tea that was in her mouth, “That is definitely not fine.”

“I tried to tell you,” Dani countered. Her head was resting on her hand that was propped up on the arm of her chair. She had never been one for making tea, and if she was being honest, coffee wasn’t her thing either. She stuck to mostly water with the occasional coffee that she would get from someplace. 

Jamie coughed, then responded, “Next time I’ll keep that in mind.” She shifted in her seat so that she could place her mug on the table, and then leaned back in the chair as she proceeded to ask a question, “So what’s it like being probably the only American in the area?”

The question caught Dani off guard; it had come out of nowhere, especially considering the fact they were just discussing tea. If she was being honest, she had never considered it that much, but she still managed to offer a quick and truthful response, “Lonely. I don’t talk to many people, if any. I mean sometimes I talk to my coworkers, but it’s not like I’m friends with any of them. You’re the only person here that I talk to somewhat frequently.”

Jamie was silent for a few seconds as Dani’s words sunk in, but she finally answered, “Consider me honored then. From our two in-person conversations, to our few conversations over text, I think your coworkers are missing out on an awesome individual.”

Dani could feel heat rushing to her cheeks at the comment, so she looked away in the hope that Jamie hadn’t noticed. She took a deep breath as she formulated her reply, “Thanks, that means a lot. As you’re well aware, I’m not exactly the best with words sometimes, so making friends is rather hard.” She thought to herself that Jamie didn’t need to know how poorly her attempts at conversing with her coworkers had gone. In fact, Dani was trying to erase the experiences from her memory herself, so bringing them up was out of the question. So she settled for an answer that Jamie would personally understand.

“Ah yes,” Jamie began, “I’m well aware of just how poetic you can be.” A chuckle escaped her mouth as she finished her sentence.

Dani just shook her head at Jamie’s sarcasm; it was something she had quickly come to learn was a natural response for the gardener. It was then that Dani decided to ask a question of her own, because, after all, she had answered a fair amount of Jamie’s questions. It seemed only fair she got to ask questions of her own, so she asked, “Would you have spoken to me if I hadn’t said anything to you first?”

There was a pause, in which Dani assumed Jamie was pondering the question. The seconds went by like drops of rain sliding down a car window. Seconds where Dani was quick to regret asking the question, because she feared the answer.

“Not at first, no,” Jamie finally answered before she clarified her answer, “I do think I would’ve after a while. One of the first things I noticed when I walked in were the three guys staring at you. They’re the reason I sat next to you honestly, and I know how they are, but they also know that I’m not necessarily one to fuck around with.”

“Yeah, I noticed them too,” Dani responded at first before she asked, “But you know them?”

“Only well enough to know they’re bad news,” Jamie responded, a frown on her face as she continued, “They tend to target girls from out of town. I try to stop it when I’m there and it’s happening.”

“So that’s why you insisted on walking me to my car,” Dani commented, a thought that was vocalized aloud. She hadn’t meant to say it, so now she attempted to build off of it, “I mean I appreciated the gesture, I just didn’t know why.”

Jamie shrugged, “It was the least I could do, considering I have you mixed up in a mess of my own making.” 

Dani was about to answer whe her phone rang. Looking down at the screen she saw it was her mom calling her, so she picked it up and said to Jamie, “Give me one moment. I’ll be right back.” 

And with that, Dani stood up and walked into her bedroom and answered her phone, “Hey Mom.”

“Danielle! Hello,” her mom’s voice greeted before she continued on with the conversation, “I hope now isn’t a bad time.”

Dani tried to interrupt her mom saying she had Jamie over, but her mom continued barreling on with speaking.

“I was just calling to see if you had given any more thought to coming home to celebrate Christmas with me, and maybe try to patch things up with Eddie. He’s been so distraught since you abruptly ended things and then left for England without letting anyone know.”

“Mom, I’m not coming home,” Dani finally managed to say, “And I’m not going to patch things up with Eddie.” She wished she could tell her mom why, but every time she tried to, the words never came out. It wasn’t even that she thought he mother would disapprove; it was more of an inability to find the courage to actually vocalize that she didn’t love Eddie in the way she was supposed to. She had yet to vocalize it out loud to anyone, even herself. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” her mom chided on the other end of the line, “You’ve had your fun. It’s time to come home.”

Something snapped in Dani at her mom’s words, which was apparent as she responded, “I already am home. And even if I wanted to come back for Christmas, I can’t. I have plans with someone that day.”

Her mom began to say something, but Dani hung up before her mom could even finish.

Dani took a deep breath to ground herself before she walked back out to where Jamie was sitting. 

—————————————

Jamie was still sitting in the same chair when Dani came out of her room. She had overheard parts of what Dani had said; the walls in the apartment weren’t that soundproof. She had heard enough to recognize there was a lot of stuff going on in Dani’s personal life. She was debating saying something, but Dani spoke first. 

“Sorry about that,” Dani apologized as she sat back down, before she went on to explain, “It was just my mom asking if I was coming home from Christmas. What she fails to realize is that I don’t make enough to fly to America for two days and then fly back.”

“It’s fine,” Jamie replied, “I’m sure she understands that you aren’t made of money.” She knew there was more to the story than what Dani had disclosed; the snippets she overheard of the conversation as her proof, but she wasn’t going to push the matter. 

“Yeah, she gets it,” Dani answered, albeit in a quiet, strained voice. She blinked a few times before she spoke again, this time in a louder voice, “It’s not something to dwell on though, so where were we?”

“Actually,” Jamie began, “It’s getting kind of late. I should probably head home.” It was only a little after eight thirty, but she had to be up early the next day to get to Bly Manor. It was the beginning of getting the manor decorated for Christmas, which meant a long day of work to try and get the grounds in prime shape. If she was lucky, she would be able to start putting up some of the decorations by the end of the day. 

“Oh right, yeah,” Dani answered. She stood up again, Jamie doing the same, and the two walked to the door, which Dani opened, “Text me when you get home.”

Jamie smiled at Dani, “I’ll make sure to.”

“Awesome,” Dani responded, a smile also on her face, “I’ll see you soon.”

The duo was close together. Dani holding onto the door with her left hand, and Jamie standing in front of the open door with her face directed towards Dani. If Jamie would’ve let herself think about it in-depth, she would’ve described the air as charged, although she wouldn’t be able to place her finger on the reason as to why it was. This fact might have been what led to Jamie saying what she did as she stepped out the door.

“See you around Poppins.”

As the door closed behind her, Jamie internally kicked herself for the out of nowhere nickname, but nevertheless, she started on the walk to her car. 

——

When Jamie got home, she almost forgot to send a text to Dani. In fact, she was almost done getting ready for bed when she remembered and sent a quick text. 

_“Hey, I made it home”_

The reply from Dani was quick. 

_“Awesome! Thanks for letting me know”_

Jamie laughed to herself as she read it, before she set her phone down in order to actually get ready for bed. Her thoughts only briefly drifted towards who the Eddie person was Dani had mentioned during the phone call with her mom. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had a lot of this chapter written before i posted the first one, so that's why it got out so quickly, so it will take a little longer to get the next one out, but fear not! i will supply this christmas fic if it is the last thing i do! also fear not about eddie. he will just be chilling in the background, i promise


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy december everyone! today i present a look into what goes on at bly manor. of course this means dani is not present, but fear not she will be talked about! enjoy! :D

It was in the midst of stringing Christmas lights along the hedges outside the manor when Peter walked over to her. She hadn’t noticed him at first until he cleared his throat.

“Can I help you?” was all Jamie asked when Peter said nothing.

“Henry just wanted me to let you know he purchased some new lights in case some of these didn’t work, but if they did, then he was wondering the feasibility of stringing them along the manor,” Peter answered.

Jamie turned then in order to look at both Peter and the manor as she thought about it. After a few seconds of thought she responded, “All the lights work so far, and I reckon if it stays that way, I can try to see how they’d work out along the manor.”

“Good, good,” Peter said. He fiddled with his lighter in his hands, something Jamie had come to learn was a habit of his. He looked down at his lighter and then back at Jamie as he spoke again, “There’s actually something else I wanted to ask, but it’s not work related.”

“Well, go on with it,” Jamie urged because she needed to get back to her work, even more so now that she had to string more lights. She also didn’t want to be talking to Peter at all, in fact it was one of the last things she wanted to do. 

Peter continued to fiddle with his lighter, but nonetheless asked his question, “Do you have any suggestions for a good flower to give someone for Christmas?”

“Are you serious?” Jamie scoffed. The question was absurd because there were numerous occasions where she had found the wreckage of him taking roses from her rose bushes; it was never a pretty sight. 

“I’m very serious,” Peter replied, his voice confident.

Jamie knew she had two options here: fight with Peter by refusing to answer him, or she could just answer his question and he would go on his way. She chose the latter as she knew how much she still had left to do, “Alright then. If you’re looking to give them to Rebecca, which I assume, then I would suggest an arrangement of red roses and carnations with  white cushion poms and Limonium; and then accented with hypericum, assorted Christmas greenery, and pinecones.”

“Oh wow, that’s a lot,” Peter voiced as he hadn’t written any of it down.

“I’ll just text it to you, okay?” Jamie suggested.

Peter nodded, “Sounds good. I’ll let you get back to your work now.”

“Thanks,” Jamie answered as Peter turned and walked away back into the manor. Now, Jamie was once again alone to work on her task of Christmas lights, just how she enjoyed it. She turned her attention back to the hedges and got back to work in the dwindling hours of the afternoon.

——

Jamie had managed to finish stringing lights along the hedges and had begun formulating a plan for the lights on the manor before Flora found her.

“Jamie!” Flora exclaimed as she drew closed to Jamie, “Owen told me to come find you. Supper’s ready!”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Jamie began as she turned to look at the girl, “I just have to finish up here.”

“Okay,” Flora said, but she didn’t move from where she was standing. 

Jamie stared at Flora, a part of her uncertain as to what Flora wanted, so she asked, “Is there anything else?”

“Oh, yes,” Flora answered. She furrowed her brow in thought before she continued, “I wanted to make something for your girlfriend! I wanted to know what she’s like.”

The word girlfriend caught Jamie off guard. It’s not that she wasn’t aware of the fact that Dani was her ‘girlfriend,’ but she still was getting used to the word because, if she was being honest, she had never truly dated someone before, fake or not. Sure, she had had her share of hookups, but nothing serious had ever come of them. When she realized she had yet to respond to Flora, she opened her mouth to speak, “Well that’s a tough one. There’s a lot that makes up a person. Dani is, uh, well she’s incredibly kind and thoughtful. And she has a smile that can light up a room.”

“She sounds wonderful,” Flora remarked her gaze directed upwards at Jamie, “I have the perfect idea about what to make her!” With that, Flora took off back into the house without a second thought.

Jamie watched Flora go and shook her head. Flora was quite the character, but Jamie didn’t mind, after all she was only eight. She sighed and looked back up at the manor, then to the sky that was only getting darker. There was no way she would be able to get lights along the manor tonight, so she started to pick up the boxes of lights and head to dinner. She made sure to place the lights in a hallway closet—where she would retrieve them tomorrow—before heading into the kitchen where everyone was seated.

“Ah Jamie, there you are,” Owen greeted from his seat, “Flora said you’d be right in.”

“Yeah, I just had to put away some lights that I didn’t get around to hanging today,” Jamie said as she made her way to her seat and sat down. 

Henry spoke up then, simply to ask, “How many more do you have to do?”

Jamie focused her gaze on him in order to respond, “Just the ones you wanted me to put on the manor. I figured out how I want to put them, I just didn’t have enough time to do so.”

“There’s always tomorrow,” Henry remarked, before he announced to the table, “Now that everyone is here, let’s eat.”

Everyone was preoccupied for a few moments as they all began eating. Jamie got her food while everyone did so, but then she was eating as well. It wasn’t until a few moments later that the silence was broken.

“So how’s learning with Miss Jessel going you two?” Henry inquired, his gaze trained on his niece and nephew.

“It’s perfectly splendid Uncle Henry!” Flora answered, her voice filled with enthusiasm, “Today Miss Jessel started teaching me my times tables. I don’t really like them, but they’re not the worst.”

“It’s alright,” Miles answered when Flora was done speaking, “I learned a bit about World War II today. It’s interesting enough.”

Henry nodded and said, “Sounds like you two are doing well then. Miss Jessel do you have anything you’d like to add?”

“Not at all,” Rebecca remarked, “They’re both hard at work on their lessons. They’ll surpass me in knowledge in no time.”

Flora laughed at Rebecca’s comment, but didn’t say anything. 

When Flora’s laughter died down and she focused her attention back on eating, Owen asked Jamie, “Does your guest for Christmas have any food allergies I should be aware of? I’m starting to plan out the meal, but I want to make sure I don’t kill her.”

Jamie hesitated to answer as it was something her and Dani hadn’t even thought of discussing. She shook her head and explained, “I don’t believe she does. She eats everything, and hasn’t brought one up yet.”

“Excellent,” Owen remarked, “I’ll continue on as planned then.”

Flora put her fork down on her plate at the mention of Jamie’s significant other, and when she had a chance, she proclaimed, “I think Jamie is in love. I was talking with her when I went to find her, and she had the nicest things to say about her.”

Jamie felt the heat rise to her cheeks at the statement, mostly from nervousness at Flora’s proclamation, but fortunately she didn’t have to say anything yet as Hannah had a comment of her own.

“Is that so Flora? I’m glad to hear it,” Hannah began before she asked, “What all did she have to say?”

It was then that Jamie had a suspicion that Hannah was the one to convince Flora to pry about her so-called relationship with Dani, because Hannah wasn’t usually one to pry.

“Well I discovered her name is Dani,” Flora answered and she added, “And I figured out what I’m making her for Christmas!”

“So the mystery girl has a name,” Peter quipped; the first time he had spoken since supper had started. He paused before he added, “I was beginning to think she didn’t exist since we didn’t even know her name.”

“Peter, don’t be like that,” Rebecca scolded from the chair beside Peter, who simply nodded and turned his attention back to the food on his plate.

“Since we do know her name now,” Owen began, “Please do tell Dani how amazing of a chef I am. She deserves to know she’ll be eating a splendid meal.”

“I’ll be sure to do so,” Jamie answered. She picked up her glass and took a swig of the water that was inside as she was unsure what else to say. She reasoned she could tell them more about Dani, but she was trying to keep things to a minimum. There was one thing she knew would be easy to tell them, so she commented, “She’s American as well.”

Hannah was the first to respond, “An American? All the way out in the Essex countryside? What made her come here?”

Jamie hesitated before she answered, because she knew she didn’t know the whole story, but she shared what she did know, “Well she always wanted to come to England, and she managed to get a teaching position here.”

“She teaches?” Rebecca asked as it had piqued her interest.

“Yes she does,” Jamie confirmed, but also added, “She loves it too.”

“I’m with her on that one,” Rebecca began to answer, “There is nothing like educating people. I can’t wait to meet her. It’s a shame Christmas is still three weeks away. I’d love to meet her sooner.”

“But Christmas is the perfect time to meet her Miss Jessel,” Flora piped up from her seat, “Holidays are always magical and filled with romance, so it’s best to meet Dani then.”

Rebecca smiled and let out a small chuckle at Flora’s reasoning, “I suppose you’re right Flora. I guess I can wait til then.”

“Does she live in Bly?” Owen asked then, and then followed with a second question, “Or does she live in a different town?”

“She actually lives in the next town over,” Jamie replied before she clarified, “Chipping Ongar to be more precise.”

“Ah I see,” Owen remarked, “That’s a nice little town. I’ve visited there before. I’m sure she enjoys it.”

“She does,” Jamie nodded, although she really had no clue had Dani felt about the town. Personally, she thought it had been nice when she had been there the day prior, but she didn’t frequent the town often.

“I’ve done business for Henry there before,” Peter commented, “Fun fact, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ was reportedly written in that town.”

“How do you know that?” Miles questioned, confusion on his face.

Jamie was also confused as to how Peter knew that; it was an obscure fact for him to know, and one that Jamie wouldn’t think he would be interested in.

Peter didn’t answer at first, Jamie presumed it was from embarrassment from revealing he knew that fact, but he ended up responding with, “I like history, so when I first had to go there, I looked into the town.”

Miles nodded at Peter’s answer, the confusion gone from his face as he responded, “Makes sense.” 

The conversation at the table fizzled out after that. Everyone returned to eating, and nothing else was really said about the topic. There was small talk here and there, but—fortunately for Jamie—there was no more talk of Dani and her relationship with Dani. When dinner was finally finished, Jamie helped to clean up and then bid everyone a goodnight as she had to get back to her flat above the pub. 

——

When Jamie arrived home, she realized she had forgotten to send Peter the list of flowers she had promised she would send, so she quickly typed out the arrangement she had told him and sent it to him. She received a message thanking her almost instantly, and Jamie wondered just how much Peter liked Rebecca that he seemed to have been waiting for her text.

What she did notice after she received Peter’s response was a text from Dani.

_ “Hey, I was thinking about how we need stories about our relationship since they’ll probably come up, so I thought maybe we could get dinner on Saturday or something? It doesn’t have to be anywhere fancy, it’s mostly just so we have ‘dates’ to talk about.” _

Jamie thought about what Dani had suggested, and she reasoned that Dani did have a point with what she said because they really did need to have genuine experiences that they would be able to talk about so she sent back a reply.

_ “I like that idea. I’ll pick you up Saturday around 6? I know the perfect place we can go.” _

She didn’t receive a response immediately, but she did get ones not long after she sent hers.

_ “Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you then.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> looks like they're gonna get dinner together, how scandalous >:O
> 
> anyways, i'm working on how to portray peter's character because this is just a lot of romantic stuff, so i don't really want him being a total ass, but i'm still trying to maintain him being one a little bit. so he might be a little out of character, but this is a christmas fic! only happy thoughts except a lil but of angst if i'm feeling like it!
> 
> a final note, i'm already starting to mentally plan out the christmas chapter, and i'm thinking of splitting it into two parts and i'll post one part on christmas eve and the other on christmas day, but i'm not sure yet. just know i'm planning it. i just think it would be nice to supply you all with two mini chapters in two days in order to make it a kind of nice surprise minus it being a surprise


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somehow this chapter did not go like how i planned it all, but i do think it ended up better than what i had originally intended. so enjoy!

It was Saturday night and Jamie was on her way to Dani’s apartment to pick her up for their ‘date,’ and for some reason Jamie found herself nervous for the evening. There were so many things that could happen tonight, and she was not prepared for any of them at all. It was one thing to go to dinner with someone, but it was another thing to pretend to date the person. So for that reason Jamie was nervous as she pulled in front of Dani’s apartment. She made sure to send a text that she was outside and then waited for Dani to come out to her car. 

It wasn’t long until Dani was walking towards her car, and Jamie would be lying if she said Dani didn’t look good in her outfit. They had agreed to a fairly casual dress code, but Dani looked good in the jeans and lilac colored sweater. It was this realization that made Jamie pause for a moment and wonder where it came from. She told herself it was simply an observation and nothing more, so she shoved it to the back of her mind as Dani opened the door and got in the car.

“Hey there,” Dani greeted, her attention focused on making sure she got her seatbelt on.

When Jamie was sure Dani had fastened her seatbelt, she began to pull away from the curb while she said, “Long time no see.”

“Only six days,” Dani said in response, “Plus I bothered you every day with random texts of my life troubles.”

“Ah yes,” Jamie laughed, “The woes of Dani Clayton. The main one being that you’re shite at making tea.”

“My biggest downfall,” Dani admitted. She paused to sigh before she added, “If only it were my biggest trouble.”

Jamie didn’t want to pry, but it seemed like Dani wanted to talk so she questioned, “Is it your mom again? You seemed pretty off after she called the other day.”

Dani was silent at first. Jamie even glanced over at her to see the blonde focused on staring at the window. She assumed Dani would say something when she was ready, so she remained silent.

It was about a minute later when Dani cleared her throat and responded, “Partly her, yeah. I wasn’t exactly honest on Sunday about everything she said.”

Jamie wondered for a moment what Dani was going to say. The only thing she had overheard by accident that Dani hadn’t mentioned was when she mentioned someone named Eddie. While Dani was quiet once again, Jamie saw this as a chance to attempt a joke, “Oh? Did she tell you you were possessed by a ghost or something”

“No?” Dani responded, almost as if she was asking a question, but the joke did seem to make her brighten up a little bit. There was a pause before Dani spoke again, “To make a long story short, I was engaged to this guy. We were the whole childhood sweethearts thing that’s motion picture worthy. Or so I thought. A few months before I moved to England, I realized I didn’t love him, at least not in the way a soon to be bride is supposed to love their fiancé, so I broke it off. I decided to move to England about a month after that. I couldn’t take my mom hounding me to get back together with him, and all the calls and texts from him asking what had happened.”

“Jesus,” was all Jamie could reply at first as she wrapped her mind around what Dani had just told her. She knew that it wasn’t the best show of support so she hurried out, “I’m sorry about that Poppins. That had to be hard to do.” Somehow the nickname she had accidentally called Dani managed to slip out of her mouth again, and Jamie accepted that it was becoming her go to for Dani.

“It was,” Dani admitted. She blinked a few times as if to ward off tears, but then she was talking again, “I just thought I needed to be completely honest with you about that. It didn’t feel right not mentioning it to you. Plus, you’re the only person I can talk to about it if I’m being honest. No one knows…” Dani faltered and tried again, but ended with the same results as the first attempt.

Jamie could see Dani struggling, which caused her to reach over and grab one of Dani’s hands. She gave it a reassuring squeeze as she said, “You don’t have to say it if you’re not ready, but when you are I’ll be here.” She looked over to see Dani was offering her a weak smile.

“Thanks,” Dani said, almost in a whisper, “I appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Jamie affirmed. She released Dani’s head and put her hand back on the steering wheel as she continued driving, although it did not stop her from speaking again, “And if your ex boyfriend gives you trouble, I’ll sort him out for you. Your mom too if you want me to.”

Dani laughed at that, albeit not her usual laugh that Jamie was used to hearing, but it was a start to getting the mood to turn around in the car. “We’ll see if it gets to that,” Dani answered when her laughter subsided, “I’m sorry to bring it up before what was supposed to be a fun night, but it was bothering me.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Jamie replied before she explained her reasoning, “It’s hard to process stuff like that, but I’m glad you trust me enough to talk to me about it.” Outside of Bly Manor, Dani was the only person she really had as a friend. Sure, she interacted with people, especially those at the pub she lived above, but it was nothing past surface level interactions. With Dani, though, it just came naturally. If she hadn’t known better, she would think she had known Dani all her life.

\--------------------------

Dani hadn’t meant to bring up Eddie at all, but she had and to her luck, Jamie supported her and was there for her. This was something she hadn’t experienced in a while, someone supporting her. Her own mother seemed to be on Eddie’s side throughout the breakup—and she still was—but Jamie was there for her. Someone she hadn’t even known for a month was offering more support than the woman that had given birth to her. Dani was grateful for the fact that Jamie seemed to understand the words she hadn’t been able to say, and even reassured she would be there when she was ready and able to say them. And now Jamie was expressing how she appreciated how much she trusted her to share about Eddie. 

It was a lot to transpire in the approximate twenty minute drive to the restaurant Jamie had picked out. Dani had no clue where they were, nor the restaurant Jamie had picked; Jamie had been sure to make sure it was a surprise, although Dani did try to solicit information from the gardener to no avail.

“What’re you thinking about?” Jamie asked.

Their conversation had drifted into a lull as Dani had been wrapped up in her thoughts but she turned to see Jamie was taking her key out of the ignition. Dani shrugged, “Everything and nothing at the same time.” It was true, her mind was racing with thoughts, but she also didn’t know how to process through all of them so she pushed them away.

Jamie nodded as she stared at Jamie for a moment. She cleared her throat before she said, “If you’re not feeling up to dinner, we could always drive around and look at Christmas lights. Maybe go to a drive-thru or there’s this drive-in ice cream place that also serves food.”

“But I suggested dinner. You don’t have to go out of your way to do that,” Dani replied, and she did mean it. She had been the one to say they should get dinner, and to change that now would be last minute, especially considering they were already at the restaurant. 

“What if I said I wanted to?” Jamie countered. She offered a smile to Dani before she explained further, “You’ve never driven around England to look at Christmas lights. Sure, I don’t know how different it would be from America, but it’ll still be exciting, trust me. Plus ice cream? A wonderful delight.”

“Are you sure?” Dani questioned. She didn’t want Jamie to go out of her way to do something just because she was feeling off from the relentless nagging of her mom in regards to Eddie. In fact, she had tried so hard to steel herself against her inner struggle before Jamie had showed up, but then she got in the car and her resolve quickly crumbled. 

Jamie was fast to reply, “Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t.” She paused before she asked, “Do you want to get ice cream or look at lights first?”

“We can get ice cream first,” Dani suggested, but also added, “Granted along the way I’m sure we’ll see Christmas lights, so it’s up in the air which one we actually do first.”

“A fair point,” Jamie remarked as she turned the car back on, “But regardless, it’ll be fun. I promise.”

Dani smiled at Jamie, her mood lifted just a little by Jamie’s attempt to make her mood better by suggesting they do something other than dinner. It was then, in the split second before she replied, that Dani realized how thankful she was that she offered to help Jamie out because, no matter the outcome, she had someone in her corner at least for the time being.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Jamie shook her head at Dani’s response as she drove away from the restaurant and began the route to their next destination, “Consider that fact noted.”

\--------------------------

“So was I right about this being fun?” Jamie asked as they sat on a bench eating their ice cream. Jamie ate what was on her spoon as she waited for Dani to respond.

“Well you getting lost on the way here was pretty comical,” Dani admitted. She fiddled with her spoon in her cup, “I do have a question though. How does this place not get in trouble for being called the Krispy Kream? Isn’t that too close to the doughnut chain?”

Jamie wasn’t expecting the question, and she had never given it much thought if she was being honest. It just wasn’t something she had ever thought about before. But, nevertheless, she offered her best suggestion as a response, “You finding me getting lost funny aside, I’m not really sure how this place doesn’t get in trouble. Maybe the names are different enough, or the doughnut place just doesn’t care about this small place.”

“Those are fair points,” Dani commented, her gaze directed out at the parking lot and road in front of them. “How do you even know about this place? It seems like it’s in the middle of nowhere,” Dani remarked as she built off of her first statement.

“I might happen to love ice cream,” Jamie admitted. She set her cup on the arm of the bench beside her before she spoke again, “And when you love ice cream, you might just happen upon places like these that not many people know about.”

“Huh, you didn’t strike me as the type to love ice cream,” Dani said, her tone indicative that she was thinking through what Jamie had told her, before she tried to clarify, “What I mean is that, uh, I actually don’t know how to say what I mean.”

Jamie laughed at that and shook her head at how Dani was struggling. “No worries,” Jamie began, “I’ve heard it before from the kids where I work. They both agree I don’t have the personality of someone who loves ice cream, but I’ll be damned if I know what that means.”

It was Dani’s turn to laugh at what Jamie had said, and when her laughter subsided, she replied, “Kids say the weirdest things sometimes, but you just gotta go with it. I do think they have a point though, because it kinda fits with what I was trying to say.”

“Then what does it mean?” Jamie questioned, for she really didn’t know what it was supposed to mean. It’s not like she pushed Flora and Miles as to what they meant by it, because she had been working and she also knew they wouldn’t have elaborated either. She was hopeful that Dani would be able to shed light on it, but her hopes were not met when Dani answered her.

“I have no clue what it means, but it just makes sense. I can’t figure out why, but it does.”

Jamie shook her head and said, “Keep your secrets then.” She wasn’t mad, and she was glad when Dani smiled at the comment. She continued to speak and picked up her cup of ice cream as she did so, “I think it’s time we go look at lights. What do you think?” She scooped up the remains of the ice cream in her cup and ate it as Dani responded.

“I’d love that,” Dani said. She stood up and looked at Jamie, “Let’s just hope you don’t get lost again.”

“I won’t get lost,” Jamie defended while she also stood up from her seat on the bench, “If anything, I’ll take you on a scenic route back to your flat so that you can see even more lights.” 

The pair began making their way back to Jamie’s car, both threw away their now empty ice cream cups along the way. They made small talk the entire way to the car and then they were in the car and on the road to look at lights.

\--------------------------

Dani enjoyed the long drive back to her apartment. All the lights along the way were amazing, and they had even pulled over to look at some of the more in-depth displays people had. All the while the two talked about anything and everything. As it was, they were only about five minutes from Dani’s apartment, but their conversation was still going on in full force.

“So are you going to get a Christmas tree for your flat?” Jamie asked.

“I actually hadn’t thought about it yet,” Dani admitted. Now that she was, she had no clue how she would even manage to afford one, as well as having no clue where she could even get one if she did have the funds to get one. 

“You haven’t?” Jamie remarked before she asserted, “This is something that definitely needs rectified. Next weekend we’re going to go tree shopping.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Dani began, but was cut off by Jamie.

“Nonsense,” Jamie interrupted, “Consider it my treat. You need a tree and I’m more than willing to help supply it.”

Dani didn’t know what to say to that, but she tried her best to respond, “You don’t have to do that Jamie.” It was bad enough Jamie insisted on paying for both of their ice cream earlier, although Jamie cited that it was just common decency of her to do it since she suggested a change in their original plans for the night.

“Hey now,” Jamie began to respond, “Let me do this for you. I personally know of a few extra strands of lights that need a home, so this is perfect.”

“Extra lights from the esteemed Bly Manor I presume,” Dani stated. She thought about Jamie’s offer, and she knew Jamie would insist until she caved, so she conceded, “And if you insist on getting me a tree so that those lights have a home, then I guess I can’t argue.”

“Excellent. If you’re not busy next Saturday afternoon, we can go then,” Jamie suggested as she pulled in front of Dani’s apartment.

Dani didn’t have any plans, in fact the only time she was busy was when she was doing stuff with Jamie, so she responded with, “Consider it a plan then. I’ll be looking forward to it.” And she was looking forward to it; she was always looking forward to everything with Jamie and in the back of her mind a part of her knew what was happening, but she was still denying it.

“I’ll hold you to it,” Jamie said, her words echoing what Dani had said earlier that night before they went to get their ice cream. She put the car in park as well, and turned to look at Dani in order to say, “I hope you had fun tonight.”

“I did,” Dani assured and added, “I really appreciate you cheering me up tonight with ice cream and Christmas lights. It was just what I needed.” She unfastened her seatbelt and focused her gaze towards Jamie who seemed to be studying her.

Jamie nodded at first but then responded, “I’m glad I could help out. I had fun too, even if you mocked me.”

Dani smiled and responded, “It was well earned in my opinion.” She shifted in her seat and sighed, “I should probably let you get going. I know you have to go to Bly Manor tomorrow.”

“Chin up, Poppins,” Jamie consoled, “You’ll see me again soon for another adventure.” 

“Another adventure to get lost on?” Dani questioned and when Jamie glared at her, she smiled, “A joke of course.” She opened her door and stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk, “I’ll see you next week.”

“Until next week,” Jamie echoed.”

“Text me when you get home,” Dani reminded as she placed her hand on the door handle lto close the door.

“I wouldn’t dream of forgetting to text you,” Jamie replied, but made sure to add, “At least not again.”

Dani rolled her eyes and closed the door. She waved goodbye to Jamie before she turned and walked to her apartment. She unlocked the door and walked into the place she called home.

——

Dani had taken a quick shower and had just crawled into bed when Jamie texted.

_ “Guess who’s alive and well” _

She smiled at her phone and how ridiculous Jamie was but typed back a response.

_ “I’m guessing you” _

She quickly typed and sent a second message right after the first.

_ “Thanks again for tonight, and not just for the change of plans. I mean everything else as well” _

The response from Jamie was quick.

_ “What can I say? That’s what friends are for.” _

Something about the use of the word ‘friends’ bothered Dani, but she couldn’t put her finger on the reason why until a few seconds later when she realized.

“Shit,” Dani breathed out as she squeezed her eyes shut. She opened them again a few seconds later and stared up at her ceiling in her room. “This cannot be happening,” Dani muttered, although she had known this was a possibility when she agreed to help Jamie out.

Dani had a huge problem that she didn’t know what to do with. Somewhere along the never ending text conversations and meetups with Jamie, Dani had started to fall for Jamie and she had absolutely no clue what to do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah yes, nothing like the introduction of ~yearning~
> 
> on a serious note, i have finals this week so i won't have a lot of time to write until they're done on wednesday, so the next chapter will be delayed a little bit. i apologize for that but i cannot do anything about it. also i do believe next chapter will be the final one before the christmas dinner chapter, so keep that in mind. 
> 
> i hope you are all staying safe!! until the next update mes amis!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> christmas tree shopping and a little bit of jamie backstory :D

Dani could not stop thinking about her realization that she liked Jamie all week. She cursed herself out for being dumb enough to fall for someone who only saw her as a friend who was helping her out of a sticky situation. It wouldn’t have been that bad, but her students had picked up that something was on her mind and they kept asking about it. She knew they didn’t mean harm, but it only made her feelings occupy her mind more. The only good thing to come from the week was that her mom hadn’t called her, which was a relief, but she almost would have welcomed the distraction of arguing with her mom. 

But now it was Saturday and Jamie was on the way to her apartment to take her to get a Christmas tree. The gesture was sweet, Dani told herself, and she knew it was, but a part of her couldn’t help but wonder if Jamie sensed she didn’t have a lot of money. 

Either way, it didn’t matter because she had to finish getting ready. She settled for a pair of jeans and one of her favorite t-shirts. She reasoned it didn’t matter because she would have her winter coat on presumably the whole time. She looked in the mirror a final time to make sure she looked presentable, and then she checked her phone to see a text from Jamie. 

_ “I’m outside whenever you’re ready, Poppins” _

She wasn’t sure what had made Jamie start calling her that, but she never thought to question it because she actually was fond of the nickname. She decided not to send a text back, instead she opted to simply head outside to where Jamie was waiting. She made sure her apartment was locked and then headed towards Jamie’s car. 

“You ready to find the tree of your dreams?” Jamie asked as soon as Dani opened the door. 

“Yeah,” Dani answered as she settled on the passenger seat. She closed the car door and fastened her seatbelt while Jamie spoke.

“Good. And I don’t know how long we’re going to be looking for one, so I thought if it was late enough, we could eat somewhere on the way back.”

“Won’t the tree be a problem?” Dani asked. She didn’t mind the idea of going to a restaurant with Jamie, it was just that she wasn’t sure if Jamie had considered it in her plans. 

Jamie shook her head, “Not at all. There’s a small little restaurant on the way that not many people visit, so it’ll be fine.”

Dani reasoned that Jamie was right and had thought it through so she responded, “Works for me then.” 

“Yeah, plus I know the owners. They’d let me get away with murder if the need arose,” Jamie continued on in explanation.

“Oh, how do you know them?” Dani questioned because she didn’t really know what else to talk about, and small talk seemed like the safe way to go.

Jamie cleared her throat, “Well, if I’m being honest, they’re an older couple that kinda looked after me when I was growin’ up. They tried to keep me out of trouble at least. Can’t say I succeeded in that goal, but I think I turned out alright.”

“Jamie Taylor! You a troublemaker? Impossible,” Dani said, her voice full of faux surprise. Jamie had been guarded about her past except for a few times, but from those times it fit that Jamie was one to get into trouble. 

“You’re so funny,” Jamie answered, but her subsequent laugh gave away that she wasn’t really upset by the remark, although she did continue to speak, “But I was. I did some stuff I’m not proud of.”

“Hey, I’m sure you had your reasons,” Dani countered in an attempt to make Jamie feel better, “And whatever it is you did, it wouldn’t make me see you any different than I do now.”

“Oh yeah? And how do you see me, Poppins?” Jamie questioned, a smirk now on her face as she glanced over at Dani.

Dani could feel the warmth that rushed to her face at the question, and Dani was grateful when Jamie looked back at the road in front of them. It was a stupid thing to be flustered over, but then again it’s not like she could tell Jamie that she wanted their fake relationship to be something more. Instead, she opted to answer as close to the truth as she could, “If you must know, I think you’re interesting to say the least, even if you’ve dragged me into this fake relationship.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Last I checked you volunteered to take part in it,” Jamie defended.

“Only because you looked like you needed to hear some good news,” Dani shot back, but then felt bad as soon as the words were out of her mouth, even though she was joking around. She was quick to apologize, “Sorry, that came out wrong. I-”

“It’s alright,” Jamie interrupted, “I know you were joking around. I am well aware of how you manage to be absolute shite at using words sometimes.”

Dani let out an airy chuckle at the fact that Jamie understood how she had meant her words. It was nice to feel at ease with Jamie even though there were the feelings that lurked just below the surface as they waited to make themselves known. 

The two fell into a comfortable silence at that as they continued on their way to the tree farm; the only sound being that of the radio as it played a local radio station at a low volume, just enough to be audible to both members of the car.

\--------------------------

“So tell me,” Dani began as they walked amongst the trees, “What makes a good tree?”

Jamie thought about it for a second. There were a lot of things that made a tree good to choose, but there were two important criteria that were crucial in selecting a tree. She answered Dani with, “To streamline my answer, there’s two things. Firstly, you should try to find a tree that has a straight trunk for at least a foot on the bottom. Secondly, you have to check the freshness of the tree.”

“How do you do that?” Dani questioned.

“If you had waited a second I would’ve told you, but now I’m not going to,” Jamie teased, a smile on her face as she looked at Dani who was frowning at what Jamie had said. She had the fleeting thought that it was cute, but it was gone before she could even process the thought.

“You’re so mean,” Dani said in response to Jamie’s refusal to explain. 

Jamie shook her head and laughed, “I guess I could tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else. It’s top secret info.” It really wasn’t that secret. In fact, Jamie was sure you could probably go on the Internet and search what she was about to tell Dani, but it was fun to make it seem like a secret.

Dani nodded, “Of course. It’s not like I have many people to tell anyways.”

“Very well,” Jamie began, a serious look on her face as she continued, “The secret to checking their freshness is to grab and branch, and then pull your hand to you. If the tree is fresh, the needles should stay on the tree. If a bunch come off, it’s not the tree for us.”

An unreadable expression flashed across Dani’s face, but it was quickly replaced with a look of understanding at what Jamie had said, “That makes sense.”

“I’m glad,” Jamie said. She clapped her hands together and looked at Dani, “Now how about we get serious about looking for a tree. We’re burning daylight.”

“Alrighty then,” Dani said. She took a few steps ahead of Jamie and turned down another isle of trees.

Jamie followed after Dani to see that the blonde had made it fairly far down the next aisle and was stopped in front of a tree. “Find one you like?” Jamie questioned as she caught up to Dani. 

Dani nodded, “I think so. The trunk is straight like you said, I guess it’s just up to the needles.” She took a step towards the tree and grabbed a branch, then pulled her hand towards her, but she brought a large amount of needles with it.

Jamie looked from the tree to Dani before she remarked, “Looks like this isn’t the one.”

“I guess not,” Dani frowned before she tried to get the needles off her hand by rubbing her hand on her jeans.

“What about this one?” Jamie asked. She gestured towards a tree on the other side of the aisle they were on before she continued with, “It looks pretty good.”

“I dunno Jamie,” Dani began, “It looks a little tall for my apartment.”

Jamie studied the tree for a moment as she tried to picture Dani’s apartment. After she thought about it she responded, “Nonsense, it’ll fit in your apartment, but if you don’t like it we can keep looking.” She didn’t want Dani to think she was rushing her through picking out a tree, but the tree in front of her was one of the best things she had seen so far as they walked through the tree farm. 

“If you think it’ll fit, I trust you,” Dani commented before she moved closer to Jamie to look at the tree, “Although there’s only one thing left to do.” Without another word, she reached for one of the branches and then pulled her hand back towards her, and this time no needles came off on her hand.

Dani looked to Jamie with a smile on her face, “You were right about this tree. I think that means we have no choice but to get it.”

“Sounds good to me, Poppins,” Jamie answered, “Now we just have to pay for it and get it out of here.”

\--------------------------

They were seated in a booth at the restaurant for a few moments before an older woman walked over to their table. Dani assumed it was one of the people Jamie had mentioned earlier in the car, and her assumption proved true when the woman spoke.

“Jamie! Is that you?” the woman asked before she continued, “You haven’t stopped by in forever and I see you brought a friend!”

“It is me Rosalie,” Jamie answered. She stood up and hugged the woman before she released her and gestured towards Dani, “And this is Dani Clayton, my, uh, girlfriend. And Dani, this is Rosalie Marshall.”

Dani didn’t even have a chance to speak before Rosalie was speaking again. She didn’t know if she would have even been able to because of what Jamie had said. Of course she was well aware that they were supposedly dating, but she thought that that was only in terms of fooling everyone at Bly Manor, not those that had helped raise Jamie.

“Oh it’s a pleasure to meet you Dani,” Rosalie said as she extended a hand to Dani who shook it. Then she was directing her next words towards Jamie, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell Lily or I that you had a girlfriend! Didn’t even think to give us a call to tell us.”

Jamie shook her head and sat back down in the booth, “I’ve been busy with work, and other things. Like today I took Dani to get a Christmas tree for her apartment and we stopped here on the way back. Isn’t that right Dani?”

“Yeah, it is,” Dani answered. She swallowed before she continued to speak, “I’ve been keeping Jamie busy, especially since I don’t know my way around England that well yet.”

“You’ll get the hang of it, don’t worry,” Rosalie assured Dani. Her glance shot back towards the kitchen before she excused herself, “I’ll be back in just a few moments, but I have to go tell Lily you two are here. She’ll kill me if I don’t”

As soon as Rosalie was out of earshot Dani questioned, “Why’d you tell her I was your girlfriend?” She didn’t want to come off as accusatory, but she wanted to know the reason.

“I just thought it would do good to test it out. We don’t want our first time saying it to be during Christmas,” Jamie admitted. She paused for a moment but did continue to speak, “I should’ve asked before I did it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, really,” Dani assured, “It’s just I wasn’t expecting it. I mean I do recognize that we are technically in a relationship, it just caught me off guard.” What she wasn’t going to admit was how she wished what Jamie had said was the genuine truth with no lies about their relationship status. She briefly wondered how long they would maintain their fake relationship, seeing as it was only for the holiday season. However long it lasted, Dani knew she was probably only going to fall harder for Jamie by the time it did end.

Jamie smiled at Dani, “Sounds like I caught you off your game. The good news is, this can give us good practice for how to act on Christmas.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dani inquired. She had no clue what they could possibly achieve in this small restaurant that could even remotely help them with Christmas in less than two weeks.

“You just gotta trust me Poppins,” was all Jamie said in response, her gaze went back towards the kitchen where it looked like Rosalie was emerging with another woman.

“What does tha-” Dani began to question but was cut off by Jamie who had grabbed her right hand with her left hand.

“Just trust me,” Jamie whispered as she interlocked their fingers and gave Dani’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

Dani just nodded her head slightly before she attempted to focus her attention on something other than the fact that Jamie was actually holding her hand. She knew she was overthinking the whole situation, but the only thing she could think about was how warm Jamie’s hand was. And how surprisingly soft it was for her working with plants all day.

Dani was snapped out of her internal panic when Rosalie arrived back at their table with a shorter woman that she assumed was Lily.

“What did I tell you, Lily? Jamie Taylor finally decided to visit and break the news that she has someone in her life,” Rosalie remarked.

“You do have our number, don’t you?” Lily questioned as she looked at Jamie, but there was no malice in her voice.

Jamie looked up at the couple, “I wanted to be sure about this relationship before I told you guys, and—as of right now—it’s going really well, so I thought I would introduce her to you two.”

“Well hopefully you just didn’t jinx it,” Lily joked before she focused her attention on Dani, “My wife tells me you’re American.”

“I am,” Dani confirmed. Her nerves were going through the roof because of many things, but she managed to maintain her composure to continue speaking, “I needed a change of scenery and came here, where I happened to run into Jamie, and I guess you can see where that led to.” 

“That we can,” Rosalie remarked, before she shifted towards a different topic, “Now before we take up your whole night, I better take your orders. What can I get for you two? And before you even say anything, it’s on the house Jamie.”

——

“So what did you think of them?” Jamie asked when they were approximately halfway back to Dani's apartment.

“Honestly, I thought they were nice,” Dani admitted, “And I was a huge fan of some of the stories they told about you.” It was a fun insight into what Jamie was like growing up, because the older couple was more than willing to share stories. Her favorite had been about a younger Jamie who had found an injured puppy and nursed it back to health.

Jamie groaned and ran a hand through her hair, “They would’ve told you my whole life story if they had the chance. Granted they’ve probably been waiting for the day I bring someone there so that they could embarrass me.”

“It just means they care about you,” Dani remarked, and she meant it. Her mom had never been one to try to tell others about her only daughter, unless of course it benefited her in getting something she wanted. So maybe it was easier for Dani to see the genuine love the couple had for Jamie. 

“I know they do,” Jamie confessed, which caught Dani off guard, but she explained what she meant, “I just want to share some stuff about me on my terms.”

Dani understood the point Jamie was making so she backed off, “I get that. Did you have fun seeing them again though?” She only asked because Jamie had appeared to have a good time in the restaurant. The one topic Dani didn’t want to broach was the fact that Jamie had barely let go of her hand during the entire time they were at the restaurant. 

“I did,” Jamie revealed. She shifted in her seat as she continued, “It was a lot of fun seeing them again, introducing them to you. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them actually. I usually take time off in the summer to visit with them, but I didn’t get a chance to this year.”

Jamie paused and Dani thought she was done, but Jamie cleared her throat and continued on, “So I guess I don’t really fault them with all their stories. They like to reminisce. I’m surprised they didn’t tell you the story of when I came out to them.”

“Oh yeah?” Dani asked. She took Jamie’s sentence as an indication that she wanted to share a story of her own. 

“Yeah,” Jamie began. She glanced over at Dani, then started to tell her story, “I knew I was gay when I was around twelve, but I didn’t even acknowledge it at the time. It wasn’t until I was seventeen that it really crossed my mind again. And I reckoned I should tell them since they were essentially my support system so I went to their restaurant one day after school.”

There was a pause before Jamie continued, “I always knew they were together, but they kept it from everyone until they actually got married in twenty-fourteen when it was legalized, but I told them a few years before that. It wouldn’t be that memorable of a story, but somewhere along the way I thought it would be a genius idea to make a card to come out with. So before I even made it to their restaurant, I just folded a piece of paper in half and wrote the words ‘I like girls’ inside of it, and handed it to them without a word. I think they still have it somewhere honestly.” 

Dani enjoyed how freely Jamie was able to talk about her sexuality; a stark contrast to herself and how she couldn’t say the words yet. The story Jamie told also had an air of absurdity that caused her to laugh and comment, “There is no way you actually did that.”

“Oh but I did,” Jamie confirmed, “It was all they could talk about for a while around me.”

“You’re ridiculous,” was all Dani said in response, which earned a chuckle from Jamie.

\--------------------------

When they arrived back at Dani’s flat, Jamie insisted on getting the tree into the apartment by herself.

“Dani I got this,” Jamie assured as she carried the tree towards the door, “All I need is for you to make sure the door is open.” She was used to carrying heavy things from her job at Bly Manor, so she didn’t think this tree was that much of a hassle.

“It looks heavy though,” Dani countered, but walked away to hold her door open for Jamie, a clear indication that even though she disagreed with Jamie, she wasn’t going to push the matter.

As she approached the door, Jamie positioned herself along the tree in the best way she could in order to fit through the doorway with it. She just barely fit through the door, but she managed to make it through with the tree, Dani right behind her. Jamie turned to Dani, a smile on her face as she gloated, “See, I told you I had it.”

“Whatever,” Dani said. She rolled her eyes at Jamie, but there was no ill emotion behind the gesture. In fact, Dani was quick to question, “So what do we do now?”

“Now,” Jamie began while she propped the tree against the nearest wall, “We need a container of cool water to put the trunk in. You’ll have to make sure to refill it frequently over the next few days.” If she was being honest, she had forgotten the fact that Dani would need a container, and she hoped that Dani had one.

Dani nodded and walked off towards the cabinets in the kitchen. She bent over and opened the door to one, then pulled something out and held it up, “Will this work? It’s all I have, and I don’t use it.”

“Yeah that works,” Jamie answered before she remarked, “While you fill that up, I’m going to go get the lights from my car so that we can put them on.”

The reply from Dani was a simple, “Okay,” and then Jamie was out the door to her car. She was quick to get them, and was back in the flat in no time with the lights in hand. There were numerous thoughts in Jamie’s mind that she was ignoring, but the most prominent one was why she had to introduce Dani as her girlfriend earlier at the restaurant. It had come out of her mouth before she could even stop it, and she was still trying to process the reasoning behind it. She knew she had come up with a good cover to tell Dani and that Dani believed it, but she still hadn’t concluded what it meant. Then to make matters even more confusing for herself, she went and held Dani’s hand most of the time they were in the restaurant. It was a lot for her to take in, but she was jolted from her thoughts by Dani.

“So I was thinking we put the tree in the corner over there,” Dani said. She gestured towards the empty corner in her living room area while she asked, “What do you think?”   
  


“Uh, yeah,” Jamie slowly responded, “I think that corner is perfect.” She noticed the weird look Dani gave her, but Dani didn’t say anything, instead walking over to the spot with the container of water.

“I did go buy the stand thing you told me to,” Dani told Jamie. She leaned over to the coffee table and picked it up, “I honestly don’t know where it goes so I’ll leave it up to you.”

Jamie shook her head at Dani, “Leave it to me Poppins. This tree will be set up in no time.” It wasn’t a lie, because she had become really good at setting up trees during her time at Bly Manor.

Dani relaxed at that and moved away from the spot where she had set the container. She sat down on the one chair and said to Jamie, “If you do need help, I’ll be more than willing to help though.”

“I’ll let you know if I do,” Jamie acknowledged before she got to work on setting up the tree, her mind focused on the task at hand and momentarily forgetting all her other issues.

——

Jamie had arrived back at her flat twenty minutes ago and after she had texted Dani she had made it home, she flopped down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She had been left alone with her thoughts since she left Dani’s flat and they had been her own worst enemy. Somewhere along the drive she had accepted the reality of her situation, even with her strong will to want to deny it. But she couldn’t deny the truth, especially not after her abrupt thought that she should kiss Dani goodbye before she left to return to her own flat. 

In her attempt to create a believable fake relationship with someone, somewhere along the lines genuine feelings had begun to form for someone who would probably never look at her in that light. 

This realization was the only thing that made sense to Jamie, because it explained why she called Dani her girlfriend earlier and why she held Dani’s hand almost the entire time. In fact, she was certain her feelings were only going to get worse as they drew nearer to Christmas, and then on Christmas when they were going to have to act like a couple.

The only solace Jamie found in any of that was that at least her actions would be believable that it was a genuine relationship, because it’s what she wanted it to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all enjoyed!! the next update won't be until christmas eve and/or christmas day, so i hope this chapter holds you all over until then! i know it's a long time until then, but i hope it'll be worth the wait. it's definitely going to be a longer chapter, although tbh idek how this chapter got as long as it did. anyways, i shall see you all in the near future with an update!! take care everyone!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> merry christmas eve to all who celebrate christmas! i hope you are all doing well!

It was Christmas Eve. The night before the big day, and not just because the following day was Christmas, but because Dani and Jamie would be put to the test with their faux relationship. There was one thought that crossed Dani’s mind, though, and that was that her actions wouldn’t be fake, but instead from a place of genuineness.

She tried not to dwell on it, the fact that with each increasing day her feelings for Jamie only grew. She thought the fact that they had been unable to get together since the day of the Christmas tree would help to diminish her feelings, but it didn’t pan out that way. In an attempt to force her thoughts elsewhere, Dani was trying to work on lesson plans for after Winter break. 

Her attempt was going about as well as running in quicksand. That is to say, she was getting absolutely nowhere. She had been trying to write the same sentence for over an hour and had only managed to write two words. So to say she was grateful when her phone rang, with the sound of an incoming FaceTime call, would be a gross understatement. It was even better when she realized it was Jamie as the one FaceTiming her, which she quickly accepted. She couldn’t even get a word of greeting in before Jamie was speaking.

“Remind me to never,” there was a pause as Jamie looked at something over her shoulder and muttered something incomprehensible, before she apologized and restarted her sentence, “Sorry about that. Remind me to never let Henry Wingrave talk me into looking after his surprise Christmas gifts for the children ever again.”

“Why?” Dani asked as she had no idea what Jamie could possibly be watching for the night, “What does he have you looking after?” 

As if on cue, there was a bark in the background on Jamie’s end of the call and everything fell into place for Dani, “You’re looking after dogs?”   
  


“Puppies, actually,” Jamie corrected. She sighed and sipped on some form of drink before she spoke again, “They’re cute, I’ll give them that, but they keep trying to get into shit they’re not supposed to.”

Dani laughed and adjusted how she was sitting in her chair so that she was more comfortable. When she was done, she responded, “You’re doing a noble deed though. You’re letting Henry keep them a surprise.”

“Yeah, at the cost my my fuckin’ sanity, Poppins,” Jamie shot back. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before she reopened them, “Hopefully you don’t mind them accompanying us on the car ride tomorrow. They get real anxious in the car. I had to pick them up today, and the one peed in the carrier on the ride to my flat, so I had to give them a bath, which they absolutely did not like might I add.”

“I’ll be fine with them in the car,” Dani answered, but then shifted her attention to try and lighten Jamie’s mood, “And hey, just think about the look on the kids’ faces when they see the puppies. It’ll be worth all the stress you’re going through tonight.”

Jamie nodded, “I reckon you’re right, but I just know they’ll get into my plants and tear them up.” There was movement on Jamie’s end of the line, and her camera shifted as it appeared she was moving to the floor. Seconds later she was holding a dog in her free hand, “Here’s the one. He’s the troublemaker out of the two. His sister just follows his lead.”

“Aw, he’s adorable,” Dani remarked, but the exasperated look on Jamie’s face made her continue speaking, “But I’m sure it’s all a ruse to try and win people over so that he can kill you in your sleep.” She was glad when a smile broke out on Jamie’s face at her comment about the puppy. 

“Now you’re getting it,” Jamie said, her camera shook as she set the puppy down on the ground. She sighed as if she was collecting herself before she said, “There’s another reason I wanted to call besides the puppies. I figured I would update you on the dress code for tomorrow. It’s not that formal of an event, so wear whatever you’re comfortable in. If it helps, I probably won’t look any different than I do when we do stuff together. Might spice things up a little bit and ditch the overalls though.”

“Not the overalls!” Dani exclaimed in an attempt to feign shock. She was partly disappointed because she found Jamie quite attractive in them, but it’s not like she could vocalize that sentiment for Jamie to hear. 

Jamie smiled, “Most definitely the overalls. But let me tell you, the outfit I’m wearing tomorrow will blow your socks off.” In the background the sound of dogs fighting with one another could be heard.

Dani tried not to let Jamie’s remark fluster her, but the attempt was futile. “That’s, uh, yeah. I’m sure it will.” She managed to recover somewhat when she added, “Jamie Taylor, always dressing to impress.”

“I’ll have you know, Flora said I was the most fashionable person she knows,” Jamie defended, but also admitted, “Although, she did say no one could be more fashionable than her. And maybe I offered her some candy to tell everyone to say that.”

“Bribing children to win an argument I see,” Dani observed. She reached for her glass of water on the coffee table and took a drink of it before she continued, “However, this fact doesn’t surprise me if I’m being honest.”

Jamie frowned at that remark, “What are you saying about me? I’ll have you know that was the only argument I bribed her to side with me on this month.”

Dani rolled her eyes at Jamie, but nonetheless replied, “You’re ridiculous, you know that?” Talking to Jamie was easy, so much easier than talking to Eddie had ever been, even this all was for the sake of maintaining a fake image. The problem was that at times it didn’t feel fake. Not in these moments where they could banter back and forth and it just seemed like they had been doing it their entire lives. It drove Dani insane that things could be this easy, especially since she knew it wasn’t a permanent fixture in her life.

“It’s all part of my charm,” Jamie responded, “Plus, I have puppies now.” Jamie picked up one of the puppies again for show, as if Dani had forgotten their existence.

“If you say so,” Dani said. She opted to change the topic before she said something she would regret, so she asked, “What kind of puppies are they by the way?”

Jamie looked at the dog in her hand, then back towards her phone, “Golden Retrievers I’m pretty certain. They’ll be great dogs for the kids. God knows they’ve been after Henry to allow them to get them.”

“Sounds like they’ll love them then,” Dani remarked before a yawn escaped her mouth. She glanced at the clock on the wall to see that it was only a little after nine, which was surprisingly early for her to be tired. Granted, she had had to deal with her mother earlier in the night when she had called, and that always managed to take a lot out of her.

“Tired already?” Jamie asked, her gaze deviated away from the phone to look at what Dani assumed was a clock, before she added, “It’s not even nine-thirty yet. But then again, there’s a busy day ahead of us tomorrow. Sleep might actually prove wise already.”

“Just a little bit. Between trying to write out some lesson plans and my mom calling earlier, I’m drained,” Dani admitted, albeit the lesson plans were not as important a role as her phone call. She figured Jamie would inquire further about her mom, so she explained, “My mom called to wish me an early Christmas because she didn’t think she’d be able to get a hold of me tomorrow. A part of me thinks it was just to see if I had last minute decided to fly back to be with her for Christmas.”

A sound escaped Jamie’s mouth, although Dani wasn’t sure what it would classify as, but her best guess was a scoff. “Dani,” Jamie began, her tone serious, “My offer still stands to sort her out for you. She should respect your boundaries and that you’re staying in England for the holiday.”

“Yeah, well that’s easier said than done,” Dani said, a frown on her face, “She’s not one to respect boundaries, especially mine.” It was true, her mother had always insisted on making sure Dani did exactly as she pleased, which is why she knew her mom kept trying to patronize her about Christmas; Dani was going against her wishes for once. Dani chalked it up to the fact that now there was an ocean between her and her mother, which allowed her to stand her ground for once in her life.

“Which isn’t right,” Jamie remarked. The dog in her hands began to try and wiggle out of Jamie’s hand, so she set the dogs down as she continued to speak, “But don’t let her drag you down. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. That I can promise, especially if two puppies are thrown into the chaos that is Christmas Day at Bly.” She picked her glass back up again and took another drink of it while Dani answered her.

Dani nodded at first, and the frown on her face slowly disappeared as she responded, “Well I’ll hold you to it then. If I don’t have fun, I might just have to go throw myself into the lake you told me was on the grounds of the manor.” 

A laugh left Jamie’s mouth at Dani’s joke before she managed to say, “The pressure is on to ensure a fun day then. Might just have to plot with Flora tomorrow when you’re not looking.”

“You really want to plot with the girl who got you into your current predicament?” Dani asked. It didn’t surprise her that Jamie would, but a part of her also wanted to know what Jamie’s response would be. 

“Well, uh, this seems like a trap of a question,” Jamie stated, her eyebrows furrowed in thought, before her face shifted to a more serious expression, “But if you want the truth, yes I’ll plot with the girl that caused me to end up meeting you. She helped me find a, uh, a really good friend.” There was a brief pause but then Jamie added, almost as an afterthought, “Yeah, a good friend.”

Dani stared at her phone for a few seconds in an attempt to try and think through what Jamie had just said, but she shot down the only idea she could think of. It was the last thing that could possibly be the truth, so she didn’t waste her time on the idea that Jamie might actually like her back. She blinked twice as she collected her thoughts before she said, “That’s fair. I suppose I’m grateful for her too for the exact same reasons.” 

“You’ll like her,” Jamie said in an attempt to clearly change the topic. She hesitated before she added, “You’ll like everyone I think. They’re all nice people even Peter, but don’t tell him I said that. He’d hold it over my head forever.”

“Hey, your secret is safe with me,” Dani replied. She had heard all about how much Jamie didn’t like Peter as much as everyone else, if at all, but Jamie had also made it known that most of her disdain came from the time Peter took roses from her rose bushes on the manor property. 

“Good,” Jamie stated, “I realize he’s just a bloke in love, and I can’t fault him for that. Doesn’t mean I forgive him for trashing my roses in the summer, but I don’t fault his reasons.” 

There was a lull in their conversation as Jamie became distracted by something the puppies were doing in the background. In fact, it was bad enough that Jamie set her phone down and walked away. All Dani could hear was fragments of what Jamie was saying.

“....leave my shoes alone!”

“You little shit……”

Then Jamie was back, the look on her face exasperated, as she said, “I hate to end this call, but these demon dogs are in desperate need of attention. I’ll see you tomorrow though.”

“Of course,” Dani affirmed, “What time are you picking me up again?”

“I want to say ten, but I have a feeling it’ll be more like ten thirty with these dogs,” Jamie answered, “And I know that that’s early, especially since we aren’t eating til later, but there’s a whole slew of events that’ll go down. Plus, there’s introductions as well.”

“I’ll be ready,” Dani assured. She paused to contemplate saying something else, and ultimately added, “Please tell me they didn’t get me anything, because I just thought of it, and I didn’t get them anything. I just got something small for you.”

Jamie shook her head, “Don’t worry about them, Poppins. They didn’t say anything to me about it so I don’t think you have anything to worry about. However, I do know Flora made you something. She was asking me some questions a few weeks ago, and said something about it.” There was a slight hesitation on Jamie’s part before she admitted, “I got you something though as well. I think you’ll like it.”

“I’m sure I will,” Dani agreed. She knew she should let Jamie go, so she bid her farewell, “I better let you go now. Just text me when you’re on the way to my apartment.”

“I’ll probably text you before that,” Jamie began, “I gotta text someone to keep me sane while my flat is terrorized by two tiny four-legged creatures.”

Dani laughed at how Jamie managed to keep calling the puppies different things, but she found herself responding, “I’ll look forward to keeping you sane then. Goodnight Jamie.”

“Night Poppins,” Jamie replied. There was a pause on the other end and then Jamie had hung up the call.

Dani took a deep breath before she stood up off her chair and set her phone down on the coffee table. She looked down at all the papers strewn about the room, and she knew she needed to get her act together and get back to finishing her lesson plans. She was about to go put her pajamas on when her phone vibrated with a text from Jamie. When she unlocked her phone and opened the message, she saw it was a picture of one of the puppies with its head stuck in a shoe with the caption:  _ ‘He’s a relentless little shit.’ _

She shook her head and chuckled at the image. A part of her couldn’t wait to see the puppies tomorrow because she had always wanted a dog, but her mom had always been adamant that a dog would not enter into the house. So it was an understatement to say she was ecstatic about being able to see them tomorrow, if only for a day. She sent back a quick message to Jamie about how adorable the photo was, and then walked off into her room in search of pajamas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i will be updating again tomorrow so stay tuned friends! until then take care and stay safe! and make sure to prevent scurvy by getting enough vitamin c!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> merry christmas! i am back again with another update, and i would just like to preface this with that i recognize that people in england know what elf is, but i just wanted to be funny. i suppose you will all see why i make this note, but anyways, on with the story! enjoy!

Jamie was running late, but it wasn’t her fault that she had woken up late after she spent half of the previous night kept awake by the incessant sound of the two Golden Retrievers whining. So she was running just ten minutes behind, but ten minutes behind the second time she had given Dani during their phone call last night. That time was already cutting it close as it was, so now she was even more pressed for time, as she pulled to a stop in front of Dani’s flat. She sent a quick text Dani that she was there and then leaned back in her seat while she waited for Dani to come out. In the back seat the two puppies were going crazy in their carrier at the fact that the car had come to a stop.

Jamie just closed her eyes as they whined and barked, and she couldn’t wait to finally make it to the manor, if only to have them calm down. It wasn’t that she hated dogs, but she forgot how needy puppies could be.

There was a knock on the passenger window that caused Jamie to become alert and open her eyes, where she saw Dani standing with a small gift in her hands. The blonde waved and Jamie unlocked the doors.

“Hey,” Dani began as she opened the door and got into the car, “Merry Christmas!” She held the gift in her hands out to Jamie, “Here. This is for you.”

Jamie took the present from Dani as she said, “Merry Christmas to you too. Your gift is actually back at my flat, so I’ll have to give it to you before I drop you back off here. I didn’t want it to get damaged during transport.” She hoped Dani liked the gift she had chosen, although she knew the gift wouldn’t truly come to fruition until the early summer months. She really hoped she would still be in Dani’s life when that day finally came.

“Well are you gonna open it?” Dani asked, which caused Jamie to be pulled out of the thoughts she had let herself get wrapped up in. Dani continued to speak as she added, “And as for whatever it is you got me, I guess I can let it slide til later.”

“Yeah, of course. I just got distracted,” Jamie admitted before she looked back down at the gift in her hands and started to tear away the paper around the gift. She had no idea what it was, but as she tore back the paper she saw it was a box. She looked back at Dani and cracked a joke, “A box? You shouldn’t have.”

There was an eye roll by Dani, before she remarked, “You’re so funny. Just open it.”

“Alright, alright,” Jamie smiled as she pulled off the top of the box. In the box she found a  _ Blondie _ t-shirt along with a Kit-Kat. Before she could even say anything Dani was already speaking.

“I know you said you liked their music, and I found it one day when I was out, so I thought you would like it. I took a guess on the size though. I hope it fits alright.”

“Dani,” Jamie interrupted, “I love it, and I’m sure it’ll fit. It’s nothing to worry about.” She paused to debate whether or not another joke would be worth it, but decided to say it, “And if it doesn’t fit, at least I have a Kit-Kat to drown my sorrows.”

Her joke got the desired response from Dani who seemed to lighten up at it as she responded, “Okay. Now what about those dogs I hear in the backseat?”

Jamie groaned, “You mean assholes one and two?” When Dani shook her head in amusement at her, Jamie continued to speak, “They’re doing great. Love making noise though, which I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“I have,” Dani confirmed while she turned to look into the backseat. She stuck a finger into the carrier which the dogs rushed to investigate, “Hey you guys. Has she been giving you guys a hard time? Because if she is, I can sort her out for you.”

Both dogs barked when Dani was done talking, and Jamie just rolled her eyes, “I’ll have you know I gave them several treats as well as their food this morning. Don’t let them convince you otherwise.”

“Oh yeah?” Dani questioned, “Because they seem to be telling me you’re giving them a hard time.” She withdrew her finger and settled in her seat before she fastened her seatbelt, “And I will not stand for you doing that.”

“Good thing you’re sitting then,” Jamie shot back, a smirk on her face at her remark. She was proud of it, and even more so when Dani just glared at her. It was cute, Jamie thought, how Dani’s glare wasn’t effective at all because she was also holding back a laugh. She blinked to clear her mind of tha train of thought before she cleared her throat, “We should probably get going. We’re already running behind schedule.”

“You’re the one behind the wheel,” Dani stated, “I am simply a passenger.”

Jamie shifted her car out of park and into drive, and said, “Then to Christmas dinner we go.”

\--------------------------

Dani wasn’t sure what to expect once they got to Bly Manor. She knew it was a manor, but to see it for the first time was a real sight to see. It was unlike anything she had seen thus far during her time in England. It was even better as they got closer and Dani could make out the lights and decorations on the house. Everything was on since it was Christmas, and it was definitely an amazing display. She brought it up to Jamie who just shrugged off the comment, and then Jamie was parking the car.

What she wasn’t expecting when they had gotten to the door, with the puppies in tow, was a girl opening the door as soon as they reached it. Dani made the assumption it was Flora, so she greeted, “Hey, you must be Flora. I’m Dani Clayton.”

“It’s nice to meet you Miss Clayton,” Flora responded, her gaze directed up at Dani, “We’ve heard so much about you.”

“All good I hope,” Dani chuckled, surprised that Flora had yet to notice the dog carrier Jamie was carrying. She would’ve thought it would be the first thing Flora would notice, but then again Jamie had made it clear that Flora wasn’t like most kids.

A woman walked up behind Flora then, “I see Flora has greeted you, even though she’s supposed to be finishing up with getting ready.”

Flora turned her attention to the woman, “Sorry Miss Jessel! I just really wanted to meet Miss Clayton. I’ll go finish up now.” When she finished speaking, Flora took off back into the manor.

When Flora was gone, the woman stepped aside from the doorway to allow Dani and Jamie into the manor. She closed the door before she said, “I don’t even know how she got down here. She was just upstairs getting ready.”

“Well you know Flora, Rebecca,” Jamie began while she set the carrier down, “She can be sneaky, getting into places she shouldn’t be.” 

Dani watched the interaction since she didn’t really know what to say on the matter, so she stood there and just took in the entrance of the manor. It was beautiful, the entryway leading towards a staircase.

“Oh! And this is my girlfriend Dani,” Jamie told Rebecca before she said to Dani, “Dani, this is Rebecca.”

Rebecca held out her hand, which Dani took, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Dani. Hopefully you’re prepared for an exciting day. And if you two stay late enough, especially after Henry takes over looking for the kids, there might be some drinking games.”

“We’ll have to see about that,” Jamie remarked.

However, at the same time Dani stated, “That sounds like a blast.”

Rebecca looked from Dani to Jamie, “Uh, whatever you two decide, it’ll be a fun day regardless.” She looked down at the carrier where the puppies were still sleeping after having fallen asleep in the car, “As for them, we better get them to Henry.”

“Or I can take them from here,” a man’s voice boomed from the bottom of the staircase. He moved closer towards the trio where he introduced himself, “I’m Henry Wingrave. You must be Dani. It’s nice to meet you. I do hope you enjoy yourself today, and I hope that you and Jamie do stay tonight. Rebecca is quite proud of the drinking game she discovered. Something to do with some American Christmas movie.”

“I’m sure I can convince Jamie to stay,” Dani answered before she asked Rebecca, “What movie is it?” She was well versed in Christmas movies, so she was interred to see which one had been made into a drinking game.

“Elf,” Rebecca replied, “I found the idea for the game online, and then I bought a copy of the movie just for tonight.”

Dani was well acquainted with the movie, in fact she had seen it more times than she would care to admit. She could see just how easy a drinking game would go along with the movie, but she also realized how easily it would be to get totally wasted with some of the repetitive actions of the movie. Regardless, she still found the idea exciting, so she replied, “Oh we’re definitely in on that.”

“But who’s gonna drive home then, Poppins?” Jamie asked.

“You two can stay the night,” Henry suggested, “There’s a spare bedroom upstairs you two can use.” He looked down at the carrier, “Now if you will excuse me, I better go get ready to give these to the kids. I told them I had a big surprise, even though Flora probably knows by now.” And then he was picking up the carrier and walking away without another word.

“All the more reason for you two to stay now,” Rebecca pushed.

“One problem with that,” Jamie stated before she elaborated, “We only have the clothes we’re wearing. And I hate to break it to you, but I am not sleeping in this outfit.”

There was a moment of courage that rose up in Dani that caused her to wrap an arm around Jamie’s waist and say, “Then we won’t sleep, love. I’m sure there are other things we can do.”

Rebecca laughed at that, and when it died down she said, “God I am glad none of the children are around, but that was hilarious. As for you, Jamie, I’m surprised you dressed up at all. You usually just dress however you feel, but I guess you’re just trying to impress a certain someone.” She added, almost as if an afterthought, “Oh, and I can always lend you two stuff to sleep in, pending nothing happens between you two while you’re wearing them.”

Just then, another person entered into the entryway where they were all standing, “Becs, there you are. Hannah is looking for you. Something about Miles needing your help for something.”

“Oh that’s right,” Rebecca remarked, her face directed towards the man, “He insisted on wearing this bowtie today, and I promised him I would tie it for him. I trust you’ll introduce yourself.” When he nodded, Rebecca took that as her cue to leave to find Miles.

“Well, Merry Christmas Jamie, and I’m assuming the one and only Dani,” the man greeted, before he introduced himself, “I’m certain Jamie has probably mentioned me and just how amazing I am, but if she hasn’t, I’m Peter. Jamie here saved my arse with my gift for Becs.”

Jamie rolled her eyes, “It was the least I could do. Couldn’t see you crash and burn on Christmas of all days. Now Valentine’s Day? That’s a different story.”

“Jamie, be nice,” Dani scolded, her head now positioned so that it rested ever so lightly on Jamie’s. She had heard Jamie’s stories on Peter, but she wanted to form her own opinion, and she also wanted to make a good first impression on everyone. She was a guest after all.

“Fine,” Jamie conceded rather quickly, much to Dani’s surprise, “I suppose I could offer my assistance with planning an arrangement for then as well.”

Peter smiled, “Wonderful! I’m hoping you won’t go back on your word. We should probably head to the kitchen, though, before Hannah comes looking for us.”

Jamie nodded, and then the trio was off to the kitchen. The walk was short, the kitchen not far from the entrance to the manor. That didn’t stop Dani from taking in her surroundings as they walked. It wasn’t that frequently she had been in places that just screamed money. 

At some point during their walk to the kitchen, Jamie had intertwined their hands and whispered to Dani, “Here’s goes nothing.” Jamie then gave Dani’s hand a gentle squeeze as they entered into the kitchen behind Peter.

“Oh Hannah,” Peter declared, “I bring Jamie and her amazing girlfriend with me.”

“It’s about time,” Hannah stated, her back turned to them as she was helping someone at the stove, “I thought between you and Rebecca they would never make it here.”

“I don’t blame him,” the man at the stove began, “It’s not every day we get guests, especially not ones that are a part of the no longer mysterious love life of Jamie.”

Dani could feel Jamie shift nervously on her feet, so she spoke up, “She mostly didn’t talk about it at first because I asked her not to.” She hesitated before she spoke again, mostly because she knew the truth was all she could offer, so she revealed, “I wasn’t really out when we first met. Obviously that changed though. I came to terms with who I am, so yeah. That was a lot to reveal for just meeting you guys.” There came another gentle squeeze on her hand from Jamie, and Dani turned to see Jamie offer her a small smile.

Hannah turned from her place at the stove to face them finally, “It’s quite alright. Sometimes it’s good to get stuff off your chest to strangers. We hold no judgement, do we Owen?”

“Not at all,” the man, Owen, at the stove answered. He finally turned to face everyone, “The walls of Bly Manor will hold all your secrets, don’t worry.”

“It’s true,” Peter remarked. He had moved to take a seat at the table, his posture relaxed as he sat in the chair, “This place is full of them if you know where to look. I’m honestly surprised this place isn’t haunted with its long history.”

“Peter not this again,” Rebecca said as she walked into the kitchen, both children behind her.

The pair began to bicker back and forth about the topic for a few minutes as Jamie and Dani also made their way to the table and took a seat beside each other.

Jamie leaned close to Dani and whispered, “You didn’t have to do that. I would’ve said something.”

Dani offered a meek smile to Jamie, “I know, but I think I’m finally ready to own who I am.” Her words would have caught her off guard had she not realized just how true they were. There was something about being here, pretending to be Jamie’s girlfriend that just made things finally click in her head. It had nothing to do with the fact that Jamie had apparently dressed nicer than usual for her, at least that’s what she told herself. This is how she found herself quietly adding, “And I recall you saying you would be here for me when I did, so here it goes. As your very real girlfriend, I think it’s only fair that I let you know that I am a lesbian.”

Jamie let go of Dani’s hand and buried her face in both hands as she tried to stifle a laugh. She turned to look up at Dani after a moment, her voice strained as she was still trying to hold back a laugh, “I can’t stand you Poppins, but I’m proud of you.”

\--------------------------

Jamie reasoned it was about ten minutes after Dani came out to her—in what was the funniest way—that Henry walked into the kitchen, the carrier in his hands. She noticed Flora and Miles were distracted with something Owen was making, so they didn’t notice their uncle come in.

“Kids,” Henry called out, and when Flora and Miles turned to look at him, he set the carrier on the ground and continued, “There’s one final gift for you two. Jamie here helped me out with this one.”

“What is it?” Miles asked as he and Flora approached the container.

A soft bark came from the carrier at that moment, followed by another one, and Flora exclaimed, “Are they puppies?!”

A smile broke out on Henry’s face as he opened the carrier door, both dogs running out of it, “Why yes they are. One for you and Miles.”

“Oh Uncle Henry, this is perfectly splendid,” Flora remarked as one of the puppies had started to lick her.

“Flora’s quite right,” Miles added, his attention on the other dog as he petted it. He looked up to his uncle and then Jamie, “Thank you for this.”

“It was no problem, kiddo,” Jamie replied, a content smile on her face as she watched the two kids play with the dogs.

“What are you gonna name them?” Peter asked, his voice genuinely curious.

Miles looked at the dog at his feet, “I think I’m going to name mine Tank.”

“What a wonderful name Miles,” Rebecca commented and then asked Flora, “And what about you Flora?”

“Daisy,” was all Flora answered, her attention so focused on the dog she was messing around with that she didn’t respond further.

“Well they’re mighty cute. Where’d you find them at?” Hannah asked, her question directed towards Henry.

Henry responded after he took a picture of both kids with their dogs, “This one guy at work knows someone who had a Golden Retriever that was having puppies, so I asked about them.”

“They’ll be a joy to keep out of the flower beds,” Jamie said. It was the one thing she was dreading most about them, the fact that now she was going to have to be diligent about them staying out of her flowers. She had worked too hard for the dogs to mess them up.

Henry was silent for a moment, but did respond, “I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” There was another pause before he asked, “Now, does anyone want wine?”

A resounding amount of yes’ were said by everyone at the table, to which Henry disappeared to retrieve enough wine for everybody.

——

They were all in the middle of eating dinner when the questioning began. Jamie was honestly surprised it hadn’t started sooner, but she wasn’t going to complain that it hadn’t.

It was Hannah who asked the first question. “So how did you two meet? Jamie has been tight-lipped about that one, only giving us the bare minimum.”

Dani took the question in stride, “I had wanted to get out of my apartment one night, so I decided to go to a pub outside of the town I live in, and I actually ended up going to the one she lives above.” There was a pause, and then Dani continued, “By mere luck she managed to come in while I was there. She actually probably saved me from this group of guys. I didn’t know it at the time though. However, I really don’t know how she ended up deciding she liked me. I wasn’t the best with words that night, but I guess things worked out exactly how they were supposed to.”

Jamie was surprised by how smoothly Dani recited that story, and how genuine it sounded, although she reasoned that it was because it was pretty much how they did meet.

“Jamie tells us you teach,” Rebecca remarked, followed by the question, “What year do you teach?”

“Currently Year Four, but there’s been talk that I might get bumped up to Year Five for next year,” Dani answered before she explained, “One of the teachers is retiring, and they want me to take her place.”

“Well isn’t that perfectly splendid. I hope it works out for you,” Rebecca said, nothing but genuineness in her voice.

The questions ceased momentarily as Flora announced, “Miss Clayton! I have a gift for you that I made. It’s in my room, but I’ll give it to you when we’re done eating.”

“That’s so generous of you Flora,” Dani responded, a smile on her face, “I’m sure I’ll love it.”

“She’s been working hard on it all week,” Henry vocalized.

Jamie knew it was true; Flora had approached her with a few more questions about Dani with the claim that it was to perfect her gift for the blonde come Christmas. 

There was a lull in the conversation for a few seconds before Owen asked, “So how are you liking England, Dani?”

“Oh, it’s quite lovely. A welcome change as opposed to Iowa,” Dani replied. She was quick to add, “I made the right decision, choosing to come to England.”

“I certainly agree with that,” Jamie voiced, a smile on her face as she looked at Dani for a second before she looked back at everyone else at the table, “You coming to England is one of the best things that has happened to me.” It wasn’t a lie what she had said, and she knew it. She knew that with each passing minute of them holding hands or Dani making innuendos, her feelings were only growing. 

“Never thought I would see the day that Jamie Taylor would be soft,” Peter began, a teasing note in his voice, “But I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

“Peter!” both Hannah and Rebecca admonished.

“He’s right though,” Miles remarked, a hesitation before he concluded, “She’s never spoken of anyone like that before.”

“Which means she’s in love!” Flora proclaimed, a huge smile on her face, “Oh I just knew it.”

The smile that had been on Dani’s face faltered slightly, but was quick to return to its original appearance she answered for her and Jamie, “Exactly right, Flora. Last I check Jamie is in love with me, and I’m quite in love with her. Just don’t tell her that last part, it’s a secret.”

Jamie’s heart rate picked up at the idea of Dani actually being in love with her, but she scolded herself mentally for thinking that was even a possibility. She looked around to see everyone smiling at how Dani had made it like a secret with Flora, even with everyone around them. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t warm her heart to see just how well Dani was with Flora.

“Well this is quite the dinner if I do say so myself,” Hannah noted, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I’ll drink to that,” Owen commented. He raised his glass towards Hannah and drained everything that was left in it.

\--------------------------

Owen had just returned to the manor after he had run home to take his mother some food for dinner. He had also taken some for his neighbor that had generously agreed to look after her today. Owen had explained that his neighbor didn’t have any family, so he was more than willing to help Owen out.

By the time he returned everyone, except Henry and the kids, had managed to become extremely tipsy on wine. The plan had been to start the movie, and according drinking game, once Owen arrived, but Dani couldn’t fathom the idea of consuming more alcohol than she already had. That was the problem with starting of with wine, it lowered her inhibitions much more than any other alcohol would. She already was aware of the danger she was at with her current state, and how she was one one drink away from doing something she would regret.

As it stood, her and Jamie were seated on a couch in the living room of the manor. Her feet were up on the couch pulled into her body, and her head was resting against Jamie’s shoulder. At some point Jamie had wrapped her arm around Dani.

Then came Flora, a wrapped gift in her hands. “Miss Clayton, here’s your gift, but I have to be honest. I didn’t make every part of it, only the accessories. Miss Jessel helped me some too, and I just thought you should know.”

Dani smiled at Flora, floored at how honest the girl was with what she had given Dani. Whatever it was, it was soft as she could squeeze the paper. She could only imagine what it was as she told Flora, “Well thank you for telling me.” She sat up from her resting place against Jamie, and began to tear away the paper around the gift. As she tore it away, she revealed a stuffed bear dressed in what looked like handmade clothing. She pulled it out of the paper and looked at Flora to thank her, “Thank you Flora. I love it.”

“I’m glad,” Flora happily began, “Jamie’s the whole reason I had this idea. I asked her about you and she said that you had a smile that could light up a room, so I thought of things that make me smile, and my stuffed animals are one of those things. I made Uncle Henry buy that one when we went into town a few weeks ago, so now hopefully when you see it, you’ll smile and light up the whole room for Jamie.”

Dani glanced at Jamie at what Flora was saying, in time to see a blush work its way onto Jamie’s face. She shrugged it off, though, as she convinced herself it was probably a trick of the light or simply due to the wine they had all consumed. She looked back at Flora, “I’m certain of it.” 

The paper that was wrapped around the bear, Flora took it and ran out of the room, Daisy right after her.

“I should pro-” Rebecca began to say, but Henry cut her off.

“I got it. You guys should get around to that movie.” He turned to look at Miles, “Come on Miles, I need help situating dog beds in you and Flora’s rooms. Plus, I think there’s some ice cream calling our names.”

“There certainly is,” Owen said from his chair beside Hannah, “I made sure to get a kind everyone loves.”

“Even cookie dough?” Miles asked while he stood up from where he had been sitting on the floor.

“Yes, even cookie dough,” Owen confirmed.

The answer seemed to satisfy Miles who walked out of the room to, Dani assumed, either the kitchen or his room. Henry was quick to follow after Miles, which left only six people in front of the TV.

“Now that the coast is clear, I hope you fuckers are ready to get wasted,” Peter declared. He stood up from the other end of the couch and made his way to the TV, “Becs if you would, explain the game to them.”

——

Dani could feel that she was wasted and they weren’t even halfway into the movie yet. Everyone else was in the same boat she was, except Hannah who had chosen to abstain from the game. She had claimed someone other than Henry needed to keep a level head in case anything went wrong, and Dani didn’t fault her for that. In fact she wished she wished she had backed out of the game, but she had let Rebecca and Jamie talk her into it. 

They had just gotten to the scene where Buddy runs into his dad’s meeting to see Finch there, and needless to say there was a lot of drinking going on.

“Holy fuck, how many times is he going to say Santa and elf?” Jamie questioned, her glass almost empty.

Dani lifted her head off Jamie’s shoulder, and slurred out “A lot more.” She was ready to tap out from the game, and she was going to, but then Hannah spoke up.

“Look, I don’t mean to sound like a parent, but I think it’s time to call it quits on this game,” Hannah said before she added an afterthought, “For the sake of your livers, I think it’s necessary.”

“For once,” Peter began, his speech slurred, “I agree with you Hannah.”

“God you must be plastered to hell and back,” Jamie observed. She shifted on the couch to set her glass down on the end table before she continued, “But I agree as well. I’d like to be able to drive tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Owen added from his seat, “I have to leave first thing to get back to my mom.”

“Well then, let’s just watch the rest of the movie,” Rebecca suggested, “And people can drink if they want to.”

Dani nodded, “Cheers to that.” She looked down at the remainder of alcohol in her cup and downed it before she handed her empty glass to Jamie who set it on the table. There was a brief hesitation about whether or not to move closer to Jamie, but the boundaries of what would be pushing their relationship too far were so blurred at Dani’s level of intoxication that she just did it without much thought. And she wasn’t surprised when Jamie seemed to hold her just a little bit tighter.

\--------------------------

“Why are you two following us?” Jamie asked, her question directed towards Rebecca and Peter who were walking behind her and Dani.

“Oh no reason,” Peter responded, but the look on his face gave it away that they were up to something.

Jamie really didn’t have the patience to deal with Peter right now. She just wanted to go to sleep to sleep her drunken state off, but it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. So she chose to see if she could figure it out as her and Dani walked to their room from Rebecca's room, “Well Rebecca gave us stuff to sleep in already, so I really don’t know why you two are walking across the mansion with us.”

“We just want to make sure you find your room okay,” Rebecca sweetly answered.

“That itself seems fishy,” Dani remarked from beside Jamie. 

They had been holding hands the entire time they walked, and Jamie was comfortable with that. Maybe it was the copious amount of alcohol that had lessened her inner turmoil for the time being, or maybe it was a lack of caring since they were supposed to be doing couple-like things. Whatever it was, Jamie was just happy to be with Dani, especially with the way Dani had been laying on her during the movie. It gave her hope that maybe things could be real between them, but that thought was dismissed as just a drunk fantasy.

“I guess time will tell then,” Peter stated before a yawn escaped him.

“A swift punch to the jaw could tell us faster than time,” Jamie quipped. She looked over her shoulder to see Peter appear as if he was concerned that was a possibility. This caused a laugh to escape Jamie, “I’m just kidding, but if you vandalized our room or something, I might not be.”

“I wouldn’t say vandalized….” Rebecca drew out.

“Becs you’re gonna spoil it for them,” Peter expressed.

It was then that Dani made an assumption, “It’s Christmas, Jamie. They probably put mistletoe above the door, or someone did and they know about it.”

Both Rebecca and Peter were speechless for a second as they all continued walking, but then Rebecca asked, “How did you figure it out?”

Jamie was also curious about how Dani had figured it out, because she had no clue how Dani had jumped to that conclusion with what Rebecca and Peter had said. 

“Hanna might’ve warned me,” Dani answered, “She didn’t outright say it was mistletoe but she told me to keep an eye out for anything hanging from doorways, and the only thing I could think of was mistletoe.”

“When did she tell you that?” Jamie asked, her curiosity now getting the best of her.

There was a pause as Dani thought about it but then she stated, “It wasn’t long after dinner. It was when Jamie had gone off with Henry to take a look at the lights that weren’t working.”

Jamie faintly recalled coming back from helping Henry to see Dani and Hannah deep in conversation, but she never would’ve imagined it had been about mistletoe. It didn’t matter, there was something else that was bothering her, “So you two are just following us to see us kiss?” There were butterflies in her stomach at the thought of kissing Dani, and she hoped it didn’t show.

Peter sighed, “No Jamie. We are not. We were actually just tagging along to make sure you two noticed it so that I could give you a hard time.”

“You are infuriating,” Jamie voiced as her and Dani came to a halt in front of their room for the night, and above the door was some mistletoe. It seemed Hannah hadn’t been lying when she told Dani to be on the lookout for it.

“We’ll leave you two alone now since it’s been pointed out,” Rebecca announced, “Goodnight you two.” She turned to Peter and motioned towards the way they had just come, and then they were walking away.

“Goodnight!” Dani called after them before she turned to Jamie, “Do you think they’re watching?”

“They probably are,” Jamie answered, although she couldn’t see them in the hallway. The alcohol in her system was definitely making her more bold than she was used to as she added, “Which means we have to yanno….”

Dani let go of Jamie’s hand, “Yeah, I guess we do. Can’t break a Christmas tradition.” She made eye contact with Jamie, her gaze extremely focused for someone who was drunk. The eye contact didn’t last long before Dani placed her free hand on Jamie’s cheek and closed the distance between them.

It was a gentle kiss, one that was over much too soon for Jamie’s liking, because as soon as it began it ended and Dani had backed away and opened the door of the room they would be sharing.

“Come on, Jamie,” Dani nudged, her gaze focused on Jamie who was still standing in front of the door.

“Yeah of course,” Jamie replied after a second, her mind clouded from the kiss, but she made it into the room nonetheless.

——

They had managed to both change and pick sides of the bed, but Jamie’s mind was still reeling from the fact that Dani kissed her. Even now as she laid there, she wasn’t sure she would be able to sleep. She was certain Dani was asleep because she had murmured something incomprehensible that made Jamie certain she was asleep. So it was just her awake, her eyes focused on the ceiling as she willed sleep to overtake her.

\--------------------------

When Dani woke up the next morning, she was alone. She only realized when she opened her eyes to see a glass of water, some Ibuprofen, and a note on the bedside table. She grabbed the note as she yawned and read what had been written.

_ “Went to check on my plants, and didn’t want to wake you. Breakfast should be ready when you wake up. I left some Ibuprofen for you in case you had a headache. -Love, Jamie” _

Dani, much to her surprise, didn’t have a headache, but a lot of the previous night was hazy after a certain point. She briefly remembered the walk to their room last night, and then it hit her. The way Rebecca and Peter had followed them to their room, her realization of there being mistletoe, and then finally her and Jamie under the mistletoe. More importantly, she initiated the kiss between her and Jamie, and then the way Jamie had stood under the mistletoe afterwards.

It all had a haziness to it, but she was certain that was what happened. The only question she was left with was whether or not the kiss had been too much. Then there was the fact that she was the one that had initiated it, something she knew she wouldn’t have done sober. The thing that surprised her the most was the way she had shown restraint with the kiss. From what she remembered it had been a quick kiss, much like the typical kiss under the mistletoe that usually occurs, but this was a completely different scenario. Those people knew they’d be able to kiss more than just that single time so it could be quick, but for Dani it would probably be her only chance to ever kiss Jamie, so the fact that her drunk self expressed restraint was a shock. 

She set the note back down and reached for her phone and sent Jamie a quick text.

_ “Hey, I’m awake. Thanks for the water and Ibuprofen.” _

She looked down at the outfit she was wearing, and sighed. It definitely wasn’t her style of clothing, but she couldn’t complain since Rebecca had been nice enough to lend them comfortable clothes to sleep on. 

With a final glance at her phone to check the time, she groaned when she saw it was only eight in the morning. She threw her phone down and the bed and got up, her plan to head to the kitchen to see if Jamie was right about breakfast.

——

When she got to the kitchen, it was only Hannah there, seated at the table with a cup of coffee.

Hannah looked up when Dani entered, “Good morning Dani.”

“Morning,” Dani echoed as she made her way further into the kitchen.

“Owen had to run home since he stayed the night, but you can help yourself to anything you like,” Hannah explained. She took a sip of her coffee before she added, “I would’ve made something, but I was helping Henry with the dogs this morning.”

“It’s alright, Hannah,” Dani assured. She made her way to the fridge as she continued to speak, “I understand. I’m not really that hungry if I’m being honest.” And she wasn’t. In fact, she was nauseous and she knew it was because she was hungover, but she knew she should eat if she wanted it to go away.

It seemed Hannah knew as well as she reprimanded, “Nonsense. You need to eat after the amount of alcohol you had last night. So does that girlfriend of yours, but she’s too busy with her plants right now.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. She loves her plants,” Dani replied as she opened the fridge, “I’m sure if I took her something she would eat it.” She noticed the container of leftover turkey from yesterday, so she pulled it out and asked Hananh, “Do you know if there are any rolls I could use to make a sandwich with this leftover turkey?”

“Of course, let me get them for you,” Hannah answered. She got up from the table and walked to the breadbox that was on one of the countertops and pulled out a pack of rolls, “Here, these should do it.”

Dani thanked Hannah and then began to make two sandwiches, one for her and the other for Jamie while Hannah busied herself with handing Dani two plates.

When Dani was halfway done with making the sandwiches, Hannah spoke to Dani again, “Henry wanted me to let you know that you’re invited to New Year’s Eve if you weren’t busy. He wasn’t sure if he would get a chance to talk to you today about it, but he told me to extend the invitation.”

“Oh, well,” Dani stammered out, uncertain as to what she should answer, but hesitantly concluded, “I don’t see why that would be a problem. I would love to join you guys again.” She hoped she had said the right thing, but without Jamie there to let her know if it was a bad idea or not, she was flying solo, and the idea of coming back to Bly Manor didn’t sound too bad.

“Excellent. I’ll have to let Henry know,” Hannah said, her gaze focused on Dani as if she was debating saying something else. It was only after a moment’s hesitation that she seemed to decide to say whatever it was she was thinking, “You know, I probably shouldn’t say anything, but it’s nice to see Jamie happy. You seem to bring out a side of her that I don’t think I’ve ever seen. She must really love you.”

Dani was speechless. She tried to open her mouth to respond, but nothing would come out, because she was trying to process the fact that her presence in Jamie’s life had had enough impact that people were noticing.

She was saved from answering when Jamie walked into the kitchen at the moment, dressed in the clothes she had been wearing the previous day, “You’re right Hannah. I do love Dani.”

Dani’s breath caught in her chest at Jamie’s words. She told herself they were just for show, but it still had the same impact as if they were true, because maybe Hannah had filled her head with false hope. It didn’t matter, Dani just had to play the part, “And I love you. In fact I love you enough that I made you breakfast.”

“Only at my insistence that you two needed to eat,” Hannah remarked.

“It’s true,” Dani confirmed before she joked, “I wasn’t that hungry but something about needing food in my stomach because of the alcohol I drank last night or something.” Dani actually wasn’t sure how much alcohol she had consumed the prior evening, but it was enough that she partially regretted it, since it made her time spent with Jamie hazy.

“I hate to tell you Poppins, but I agree with her,” Jamie remarked, and when Dani scowled at her she explained, “I know I had too much, but you had more than me. I don’t know how you’re still standing.”

“Exactly,” Hannah agreed before she changed the topic, “Oh, and by the way I invited Dani to New Year’s Eve and she agreed to come. I forgot to mention that it’s an overnight party though, so make sure to pack for that.”

\--------------------------

They were stopped at Jamie’s flat so that Jamie could give Dani her Christmas present. It was also the first time Jamie was actually bringing Dani into her flat as well, even though their entire history began in the establishment below it.

“So this is it?” Dani questioned when they walked in, “I finally get to see your place after you’ve been to mine numerous times.”

“Yes it is,” Jamie answered. She gestured around her, “This is where I spend most of my time when I’m not tending to the grounds of Bly Manor.”

“I like it,” Dani said as she looked around the apartment, especially at the numerous plants Jamie had in every windowsill. 

Jamie smiled, glad that Dani liked her flat. Sure, she wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but if Dani liked it, that was enough for her. She turned away from Dani in order to retreat into her bedroom to retrieve Dani’s gift. She called over her shoulder, “Stay there and close your eyes. I want it to be a surprise.”

She assumed Dani heard it, but Dani didn’t say anything in response. She moved towards the window in her room, and picked up the pot she had carefully planted a flower in a few weeks prior and had been caring for. After a moment of inspection to make sure it was still healthy, she walked back out of her room with it and said to Dani, “Okay, here I come with it.”

“My eyes are shut, don’t worry,” Dani replied.

Jamie looked up from the pot to see that Dani was telling the truth, so she walked closer with the pot until she was in front of Dani with it. She shifted nervously on her feet as she told Dani, “Hold out your hands, I’m gonna put it in them.”

Dani nodded and held out her hands for Jamie to put the gift in, which she did. When it was in her hands, Dani asked, “Can I open my eyes now?”

“One sec,” Jamie said. She took her hands off the pot and took a step back, “Now you can.”

Dani opened her eyes and looked down at the plant, a confused look on her face as she tried to figure out what type of plant it was.

Jamie picked up on the look that was on Dani’s look, so she explained, “It’s a moonflower. It’s actually one of my favorite flowers, but the thing with it is, it only blooms once, and then it dies. And I know that’s morbid for a Christmas gift, but the thing is, it’s worth it to see it bloom that one single time.” 

“I love it,” Dani rushed out before Jamie could say anything else, and Jamie believed Dani when she said it. 

That was how it was with Dani, she never seemed to be able to lie, at least to Jamie. Maybe that was because she had lied for so many years, mostly to herself, until she had come to England. Jamie didn’t know if she was right in her assumptions, but it was interesting to say the least at how, as they became closer, Dani grew more and more comfortable at telling her what was on her mind.

“I’m glad,” Jamie said in response before she added, “Plus, I figured I could help you take care of it. It shouldn’t bloom until the early summer months, but I think we’ll still be in each other’s lives at that point.” She said the last part as a way to get reassurance from Dani that they would still be friends after they ended the ruse they had going on. 

“Of course,” Dani confirmed, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

All Jamie could do was let out a chuckle, because she really didn’t know what she would do without Dani in her life either. Hannah had hit the nail on the head earlier that morning when she told Dani that she was a different person since they started dating. They were changes Jamie wouldn’t change for the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll be back soon with an update my friends!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all are prepared. this chapter ended up being like nothing i had originally intended :3
> 
> which this also threw off how i was going to end this story originally, but i think it works out

It was New Year’s Eve. Dani was driving to Bly Manor herself since Jamie had to head to Bly Manor earlier in the day to attend to a landscaping crisis. The crisis, Dani had learned during a phone call with an exasperated Jamie, was that the two new furry additions to the Wingrave family had managed to get into some of Jamie’s flowers.

So here Dani was en route to the manor by herself, bag in the passenger seat beside her, a crappy song in the midst of playing on the radio.

Things between them had been different, charged almost, since Christmas, but not once did they talk about the fact that they kissed. That was what struck Dani as odd; she would’ve thought Jamie would’ve mentioned it at least once, but it hadn’t happened. Then there was the whole interaction at Jamie’s flat. The moonflower and Jamie’s explanation for it, and then the kicker that it wasn’t set to bloom until summer. A summer that was far away, and the months in between filled with uncertainty. 

Dani sighed as she approached the manor. She was excited for tonight, the sky already getting dark as she arrived. There was one thing she had to talk to Jamie about, something she had realized shortly before she left her house, and it involved doing something they had only done once before, only to never speak of it again. Dani had remembered the age-old tradition of a New Year’s kiss, and she wanted to make sure Jamie would be comfortable with it.

It wasn’t Jamie who greeted her as she stepped out of her car, however, it was Peter.

“Thank God you’re here,” were the first words out of his mouth before he continued, “Jamie has been insufferable about her flowers. Hopefully your presence brightens or mood.”

Dani just hefted her bag onto her shoulder, not sure how to reply, but then Flora was making her way out of the house.

“Miss Clayton! You’re back!” Flora cheered, then a serious look made its way onto her face as she said, “I’m sure you’ve heard what Daisy and Tank have done, haven’t you?” And when Dani nodded, Flora continued, “Jamie’s quite mad about it. Can you tell her to give them another chance? They’re only puppies.”

Dani smiled down at Flora and assured, “I think I can arrange that. She’s sure to come around.” Then a thought occurred to her on how to brighten Flora’s mood, “Did she ever tell you she nursed a sick puppy back to health when she was younger?” Dani had a slight feeling Jamie would be a little upset at the disclosure of this story, but Dani also couldn’t stand to see Flora so worried about whether or not Jamie hated the puppies.

“Why no she hasn’t,” Flora frowned in thought, then a smile brightened her features, “That means she’ll forgive Daisy and Tank then!”

“That’s right, Flora,” Dani confirmed, and then Flora was running back into the house; Dani presumed it was to tell Miles the news. She turned to Peter then and said, “Guess we better follow after her so I can put my bag down somewhere.”

“Fuck,” Peter muttered before he looked at Dani, “Let me take that. That was supposed to be my job, specific orders from your girlfriend herself. I got distracted trying to be, what she would call, an asshole. Please don’t tell her about that.” He smiled uneasily at Dani after he had taken her bag as he waited for her response.

Dani nodded after a moment, “I suppose I could keep this secret.” She thought Peter was nice in her interactions with him. Sure, he had some behaviors that seemed like he was an asshole, but he could be funny even if it wasn’t intentional.

“Awesome,” Peter began. He moved towards the door of the manor, Dani behind him, before he opened the door for Dani and followed in behind her. As he closed the door, he said to Dani, “Let the party begin then.”

——

Dani was grabbing her phone charger out of her bag in the room when Jamie found her.

It was a soft knock on the door then Jamie greeted, “Fancy seeing you here again, Poppins.”

“Hey Jamie,” Dani began as she turned her head so she could look at Jamie, “I was just about to head back to the kitchen.”

“I figured,” Jamie remarked, still in the doorway, “Hannah told me I could find you up here. Something about you needing something.”

Dani held up her phone charger to show that Hannah was right before she remembered the conversation with Flora when she had arrived. She stood up from her bag on the ground and perched herself on the edge of the bed as she spoke, “Flora wanted me to talk to you.”

“Oh yeah?” Jamie questioned as she stepped into the room and closed the door before she went and sat beside Dani on the bed, “What about?”

“She’s worried you hate Daisy and Tank,” Dani answered and when Jamie remained silent, she continued, “She knows you’re upset about what they did to your flowers, but she really wants you to give them another chance.” Dani studied Jamie as the gardener thought the proposition over, but her thoughts quickly grew distracted as she thought about how easy it would be to just lean over and kiss Jamie. In fact, she missed what Jamie had said, so she had to hurry out a quick, “What?”

Jamie shook her head, but repeated herself nonetheless, “I said that I would. Plus, I already heard that you told Flora about the time I nursed a sick dog back to health. I don’t know how that correlates to me forgiving the two demons that now live in this house, but I suppose I could.”

“Good,” Dani replied. She blinked and looked away from Jamie towards the door, her next sentence driven by the fact that she needed to get out of the room before she said something she regretted, “We should probably get back to everyone. Don’t want to keep the party waiting.”

There was a moment of hesitation on Jamie’s part before she took a deep breath and suggested, “Or we could stay here a few more minutes. We still have a while before Owen finishes up with cooking. Nothing wrong with chatting without the influence of everyone else.”

Dani nodded as she couldn’t find a reason to say no to Jamie’s suggestion, and murmured out a quiet, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” She couldn’t open her mouth to say anything, fearful of what would come out if she did speak. It was like she was unable to form a thought that didn’t involve kissing Jamie at the conclusion of it, so she let Jamie take the lead of the conversation.

It seemed Jamie seemed to pick up on Dani’s behavior, because she asked, “Everything alright Dani?” There was worry and concern in her voice and she was looking nervously at Dani.

Dani nodded once again, but quickly realized that probably wouldn’t suffice so she managed to say, “Yeah, everything’s good.” She looked anywhere but at Jamie, her thoughts a jumbled mess that could only be summed up as gay panic.

Jamie shifted beside Dani, her body now turned to face Dani more. Her voice took a strained tone as she said, “Jesus Christ I can’t do this anymore.”

That got Dani to look at Jamie, confusion on her face that was soon replaced by fear that Jamie was about to say she didn’t want to hang around her anymore. Dani was speechless as she sat there and stared at Jamie, but after a moment managed to weakly ask, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Jamie began, her hands gesturing around her as she struggled to find the words she wanted, before she seemed to settle with, “What I mean is that I don’t know how much longer I can do this whole fake dating thing.”

Dani frowned, but didn’t say anything. It seemed to her that Jamie hadn't finished speaking, instead the gardener was struggling to find her words again, and she proved to be right when Jamie started to speak again.

“Can’t believe I’m actually saying this out loud, but I like you Dani.” Jamie paused, a look of relief mixed with apprehension written on her face that only grew more apprehensive at Dani’s silence, so she rambled, “I tried to tell myself I didn’t, I really did, but then I couldn’t. And I didn’t want to tell you unt-”

Whatever Jamie was about to say was cut off by the fact that Dani had leaned forward, Jamie’s confession filling her with a confidence she didn’t know she had, and was kissing Jamie. It was weeks of her feelings being poured into the kiss that went unreciprocated at first before Jamie was kissing her back with an equal intensity. 

It wasn’t a perfect kiss, no kiss ever is, but in that moment, Dani wouldn’t change anything about it as her hand came up to rest on Jamie’s cheek, Jamie’s one hand finding its place on the small of Dani’s back. Dani was surprised by the amount of emotion that could be conveyed by a kiss as it deepend, but it quickly ended when there was a knock on the door. 

Dani pulled away first, turning to face the door and to call out, “Yes?”

“I’m just here to say that the food is almost ready,” was the response from whoever was at the door. Dani placed the voice as Hannah, who continued to speak, “It probably actually is at this point.”

“Okay Hannah,” Jamie called out, “We’ll be right there.”

“Very well,” came the response from Hannah, and then her footsteps could be heard as she walked away from the door.

Dani turned back to look at Jamie, and the realization of what had just happened began to hit her. Jamie had actually admitted that she liked her, and in response to Jamie’s rambling, she had kissed her. Dani had actually kissed Jamie and it wasn’t for show. It was a truly genuine kiss that did a good job of conveying her feelings, and perhaps a good job of conveying Jamie’s feelings as well.

“Are you gonna say anything, Poppins?” Jamie asked when Dani hadn’t said anything. She was looking at Dani with a softness that Dani couldn’t recall ever seeing before.

Dani shook her head, “I don’t know what to say.” She paused to collect her thoughts before she tried again with, “Okay maybe I do have a question. How long have you known?”

“The day we got your Christmas tree,” Jamie answered, a faint smile on her face. “What about you?” Jamie questioned.

“The night we got ice cream and looked at the lights,” Dani responded, but she elaborated upon it, “It mostly hit when you texted me ‘what are friends for.’ I guess I just didn’t like the use of the word friend.” A nervous laugh escaped Dani, the fear that she had shared too much creeping into the front of her mind as she waited for Jamie to respond.

Jamie shook her head in disbelief, “God I can’t believe neither one of us cracked before today then. I almost did last week at my flat actually. You made it hard not to, but I just convinced myself it would only end in disaster.”

“Well what changed?” Dani inquired, curious as to what could have possibly changed in the six days since she had been at Jamie’s apartment.

“A good question with quite the interesting answer,” Jamie responded, but didn’t elaborate further as she stood up, “Ask me again in forty-five days, but for now we better get downstairs before Hannah has our heads.”

Dani stared up at Jamie, confused as to what was in forty-five days, but she didn’t question it. Instead, she stood up and took Jamie’s hand and interlocked their fingers before they both began to walk out of the room and towards their destination of the kitchen.

\--------------------------

They were all sitting around in the living room, the TV on at a low volume for background noise. There was conversation going on, but Jamie was unable to focus on it, her thoughts consumed by the fact that Dani was curled up against her and it wasn’t just for show; it was genuinely something Dani wanted to do.

Their kiss from earlier was still fresh at the back of Jamie’s mind, something she was certain she would never forget. She was so engrossed in thought she hadn’t heard anyone say anything to her. Instead she was dragged out of her thoughts when Dani nudged her which caused her to ask, “What?”

It was Rebecca who had wanted her as the au pair repeated herself, “Is it true you nursed a sick puppy back to health? Flora was just telling us about how Dani told her that earlier today.”

Jamie glanced at Dani, but the usual anger at someone sharing something about her unsolicited wasn’t there, similar to how it hadn’t been there earlier when Dani had admitted to telling Flora about it. It was a curious change, but it wasn’t necessarily an unwelcome change she realized. “It’s true,” Jamie began her answer before she continued, “Apollo was one of the best dogs I’ve ever met even if he tried to give me a heart attack at first by almost not making it. He was a fighter though. He didn’t give up, and then he was my best friend for the next thirteen years.”

“You never told us you had a dog before,” Miles remarked from his seat.

“Yeah,” Flora agreed, but added her own input, “We had to find out from Miss Clayton who hasn’t been here near as long as you.”

“Hey now Flora,” Henry warned, “Jamie probably never saw the reason to share that fact with us, but now that Daisy and Tank are here, that changed.”

“Or having a girlfriend made her more open,” Owen suggested. He raised his hands in defense when Jamie glared in his direction, “It was just a suggestion built upon the fact that you’ve been different since you met Dani.”

It was Hannah’s turn to speak up as she scolded, “Owen! What did we say about bringing that up in front of Jamie?”

Owen didn’t have a chance to respond as Jamie asked a question of her own, “You’ve had conversations about what not to bring up in front of me?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but then again things were always bizarre at Bly Manor, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise to her.

“I think the obvious answer is yes,” Dani spoke up from her spot against Jamie, “Although I think Hannah was caught breaking whatever agreement they reached, though, because you caught her saying something similar to me last week.”

“Hannah Grose was caught breaking one of her rules?” Owen asked, surprise mixed with amusement in his voice.

Hannah’s response was to lightly hit him on the arm, but that only fueled Owen more as he declared, “And now look! Violence in the house! When will it end?”

Everyone laughed at that, even Hannah although she tried to stifle her laugh but to no avail. The room fell into small talk after that.

——

There were five minutes until midnight. Five minutes until everyone at Bly Manor rang in the new year together. Flora and Miles had fallen asleep on the floor, their dogs curled up beside them. It was Henry who gently nudged them.

“Hey you two, it’s almost midnight.”

Flora stirred first, “I’m awake Uncle Henry, don’t worry.” Then it seemed she woke up more, because she poked Miles, “Come on Miles, wake up.”

Miles mumbled something incomprehensible to Jamie’s ears, but whatever it was seemed to satisfy Flora who began to pet Daisy.

“So what’s everyone’s goal for the new year?” Peter inquired, before he shared his own, “Mine’s to work on myself so I can be better, and I’m gonna start by finding a therapist.”

“Really?” Rebecca questioned from her spot beside Peter, “You didn’t tell me about that.”

Peter nodded in response and said, “It’s about time I did so.”

Jamie was surprised by Peter’s goal, because he never seemed to acknowledge his flaws, but something must’ve changed. Whatever the reason, she told Peter, “I’m gonna say this once, but I’m proud of you. It takes guts to admit to yourself you need therapy.”

“Jamie’s right,” Dani added. She sat up some and continued, “You won’t regret it.”

“Thanks guys,” Peter said, before he remarked, “Enough about me. I meant it when I asked about what your goals were.”

“I’ll go,” Owen began, “I have two. My first one is to enlighten you all with more of my wonderful puns. The second being that I want to get the nerve up to ask a special someone out this year. I’m hoping she says yes.”

Dani looked at Jamie at that, confusion on her face as she leaned closer to Jamie and quietly asked, “You mean him and Hannah aren’t together?”

Jamie held back her laughter at Dani’s question, but she was well acquainted with the question; Rebecca had asked it within the first week she had started working at the manor. Instead she whispered back, “Not at all, but they should be. Sounds like that’ll be changing this year though.” Dani raised an eyebrow at that, and Jamie just smiled as she concluded, “They’re both in love with each other, but neither realizes it.”

“Sounds familiar,” Dani quipped, a smirk now on her face as the realization dawned on Jamie.

Jamie was going to respond with a joke, but she didn’t have a chance to as Hannah’s voice interrupted, “What about you two lovebirds over there?”

Jamie realized everyone else must’ve said what their goals for the new year were, and now it was just her and Dani left. She cleared her thought and answered, “My goal is to, uh, take Dani here on an unforgettable date.”

“Are you saying all the dates we’ve been on so far are forgettable?” Dani questioned, faux anger in her voice but a smirk on her face as she continued, “Because last I checked, I haven’t forgotten any of our dates. Is there something you’d like to share with the group?”

“What I meant was that I want to take you on a date unlike any of our other ones,” Jamie corrected herself, and then she glanced at the TV to see there were only twenty seconds left before the new year, so she changed the subject, “And would you look at that, it’s almost midnight.”

Everyone’s attention deviated away from Jamie at the mention of the time, and then everyone was starting to count down when it reached ten seconds to go. The chorus of all their voices rang through the living room, each number being called out until they hit one, and then they all cheered out, “Happy New Year!”

Jamie observed Peter lean over to kiss Rebecca. She looked down at Dani by her side and saw the blonde staring up at her. Jamie tilted her head to ask if it would be okay, but the only response she received was Dani leaning in and kissing her. It was far from the kiss they had shared earlier, but Jamie still felt warm all over from the kiss. It was brief as it was only a kiss to welcome in the new year, but when Dani pulled away and opened her eyes, Jamie could see that had they been alone things wouldn’t have ended there. It made a part of Jamie wonder what would happen when they actually were alone after the party disbanded for the night, which would probably be soon.

“Well I should probably get this two to bed,” Henry remarked, gesturing towards both Flora and Miles.

“We’re not tired though,” Miles protested. He looked towards Flora for support.

“It’s true Uncle Henry,” Flora agreed, a tired smile on her face, “We’re not tired at all.”

“Nonsense,” Rebecca said as she stood up, “You two need your sleep, because Daisy and Tank are going to be up early, and you’ll want to play with them, won’t you?”

That seemed to catch both Flora and Miles off guard, but they quickly acquiesced and stood up themselves before they made their way to the door.

Rebecca went to follow them, but Henry stopped her, “I got them. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

Rebecca seemed torn by the comment, but conceded and sat back down, “If you insist. Just make sure Flora brushes her teeth. She manages to find ways out of it.”

“Will do,” was Henry’s response before he walked out of the room.

“Well I don’t know what you all have planned, but I think it’s time I get to bed too,” Hannah announced from her seat. 

Owen was quick to say something similar, “I probably should get going home. The morning will be here before you know it.”

“Guess that just leaves the two couples then,” Hannah said, as she made her way out of the room, “It was nice tonight. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Owen, I’ll see you out.”

A smile appeared on Owen’s face at Hannah’s offer, and he was quick to get up from his seat and follow after Hannah, “Goodnight everyone!”

There was a chorus of “Goodnight” responses, and then there were four left remaining in the living room. 

No one said anything at first, but then it was Dani who broke the silence, “I guess the party's over.”

“Unfortunately,” Peter began, “Nowhere near as fun as Christmas was. That was a party to remember.”

“Perhaps the first and only time Henry will let us do a drinking game,” Jamie added, and she wondered if it was true. They had to have consumed a fair amount of alcohol that night, and Henry had been the one to supply it all.

“Not true at all,” Rebecca revealed, “In fact, he even suggested one we could do next year.”

Jamie just shook her head at the thought of her employer suggesting ways for his employees to get wasted. Rather than comment on it, she shifted the conversation elsewhere, “Owen was right about the morning getting her quickly. We should probably all get to bed.”

“You only say that because you get up with the sun,” Dani teased, and her remark earned a hearty laugh from Peter who shut up when Jamie glared at him.

“Then I guess this is goodnight then,” Rebecca said from her seat, before she once again stood up and dragged Peter up with her, “We’ll see you two tomorrow.”

“Yeah, goodnight you two lovebirds,” Peter voiced as he and Rebecca made their way out of the room.

“Goodnight,” both Dani and Jamie called after the couple, and then it was just them.

Dani looked at Jamie then, a mischievous look on her face, “Guess it’s just us then.”

“Guess it is,” Jamie parroted back. She had no clue what Dani was thinking, but she figured she would just go with whatever Dani wanted.

That was how she found herself being pulled up off of the couch by Dani and towards their room, careful to make sure they turned out the lights of the living room as they went.

“So are you gonna say anything?” Jamie questioned as they made their way up the staircase, “Because as much as I love this whole thing you got goin’ on, I wouldn’t mind some insight.”

Dani stopped and turned to face Jamie, the same mischievous look in her eye, as she answered, “If I told you, there wouldn’t be any fun in that, so no.”

Jamie accepted the answer, knowing that Dani wouldn’t elaborate. So she let Dani continue to lead her to their shared room for the night, and it was in front of the closed door that Dani finally spoke again.

“Okay so if I’m being honest, all my uh confidence kinda disappeared on the way up here,” Dani admitted, a faint blush making its way onto her face.

“Oh yeah?” Jamie challenged before she asked, “And what was your confident self gonna do?” It was different seeing this side of Dani. The side of her that was flustered by Jamie and let it show. 

Dani opened her mouth and then closed it again as she tried to find the words she wanted to say. A frown appeared on her face as she struggled but then she whispered something under her breath that Jamie couldn’t hear, and then Jamie found herself being pinned against the door as Dani kissed her.

Jamie was quick to kiss Dani back, and there was the intensity that had been there earlier in the day before they had eaten, and it was driving Jamie mad. With her one hand wrapped around Dani’s waist, she used her other one to fumble around for the doorknob. She managed to open the door and then came the realization that the door wasn’t behind her to support her anymore so the duo almost toppled to the floor. Just barely was Jamie able to support the two of them, and the two made their way into the room, Dani managing to close the door behind them.

Dani pulled back as they neared the bed, her expression slightly dazed but also focused as she breathed out, “Have I mentioned how hard it was to not do this last week?”

“In fairness, you were drunk and tired,” Jamie responded, a smirk on her face, “This time not so much.” There was only one thing that was weighing at the back of her mind at what she thought was going to happen, which prompted her to ask, “You’re okay with this?”

Dani let out an airy laugh as she murmured, “More than okay with this.” And then she was kissing Jamie again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please be gentle, i'm still working on my ability to write kissing scenes. they're not my strongsuit as i'm not as experienced with writing them. i hope i did alright. in terms of this fic, i have one chapter left that will kinda serve as a way to wrap this fic up. it will, of course, be set 45 days after new year's eve, which is valentine's day. this fic is holiday themed and i decided to rope that holiday into the mix. so stay tuned for that in the near future. i'll try to get it out as quickly as i can.
> 
> i also just want to extend thanks to everyone who has commented and left kudos on this fic! they mean the world and i know i don't reply to all the comments, but they mean the world to me! i just don't know how to interact with people sometimes so i jsut read them and tell myself "you should respond to those" and then i don't. just know i read them all and appreciate them!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy valentine's day friends! i'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, because i had really wanted to get it out earlier. but school decided to start and my one class is a lot harder than i had thought it would be so i'm spending hours trying to understand it (i'm doing pretty good so far). so without further ado, enjoy the final chapter of the fic!

And so time passed from New Year’s Eve. Dani became a frequent visitor to Bly Manor on the weekends, especially Sunday when Henry would insist Jamie invite her, and Jamie relented. There was a time Hannah cornered Jamie one day in the greenhouse and let it be known she observed a difference in Dani and Jamie’s behavior on New Year’s Eve as opposed to Christmas. It was from that event that Dani told Jamie they should come clean about the whole situation since they were now dating for real; and when they told everyone the truth, they all laughed at the story.

Then came the questions of who admitted the truth first, mostly coming from Rebecca, but everyone else was invested in finding out as well. As the story drew to a close, it ended with Flora’s proclamation that she was the reason two  _ perfectly splendid _ people managed to find each other and fall in love, which earned a round of laughs before Dani told her it was true. Dani’s response to Flora’s statement made Jamie all the more in love with the blonde.

In terms of their relationship, Jamie was determined to take Dani on as many amazing dates as she could. With those dates Jamie took Dani on, Dani began staying over at Jamie’s flat more and more. Jamie wouldn’t complain about it though, because she loved waking up to Dani beside her. It was the happiest Jamie had ever been, and she wouldn’t change anything for the world. Which is how she found herself planning the perfect date for her and Dani.

——

It was Valentine’s Day. Officially forty-five days after New Year’s Eve, or forty-five days since they started dating for real. Jamie had it all planned out. Henry had given her the day off with the claim that she deserved a day off, but she knew it was because he was aware of how stressed she was to make sure her plans went perfectly. So maybe he wasn’t completely wrong saying she deserved the day off, but knew there was more to it than that. All she had to do was pick Dani up, take her to dinner, and then the finale for the evening was what she was truly looking forward to. She had practiced what she wanted to say for when they got back to her place that night, but she knew that she would more than likely end up winging it.

She was right on time; everything was going according to plan. She gave herself a final onceover in the mirror and then she was out the door to her car so she could pick Dani up.

However, true to her luck, her car wouldn’t start, which left her to call Dani after her attempts to fix her car failed. Dani picked up on the second ring.

“Hey Jamie. Is everything alright? You said you were leaving.”

Jamie squeezed the bridge of her nose with her free hand as she responded, “Well I tried to, Poppins. Key word there is try, but my car decided to die on me.” Jamie can hear movement on the other end of line which means Dani was probably developing some form of plan. 

“Okay, well how about I come pick you up,” Dani suggested, “And then you can drive us to wherever it is you had planned.”

Jamie nodded along with the suggestion, “I reckon that would work. It just sucks cause I had this whole night planned out.”

“And sometimes the best nights happen on a whim,” Dani responded instantly, “I mean, yeah, it sucks that the plan got messed up, but I’ll see you soon, alright?”

“Alright,” Jamie answered, “I’ll see you soon. Drive safe.” There were words she desperately wanted to add at the end of the sentence, but neither one had dared broach those words yet. Jamie wanted to change that though, and a part of her plan for the evening would make sure to do so.

——

Dani showed up at Jamie’s flat not much later, although to Jamie it felt like hours. When Dani climbed out of the car so Jamie could drive, Jamie greeted her with a kiss.

“When she pulled away, she asked, “Are you ready for tonight?”

Dani beamed at her, “I’m always ready for anything if it involves you.”

“And I’ll hold you to that,” Jamie smirked as she got into Dani’s car. She watched as Dani did the same; the blonde walked over to the passenger door. It gave Jamie time to study the outfit Dani had opted for: light blue jeans, a pair of black hi-top Vans, and what looked like a predominantly purple flannel under her coat with a white shirt underneath. 

“Just so you know,” Dani began as she continued the conversation, “I meant what I said.”

“Oh yeah?” Jamie questioned as they both fastened their seatbelts. While Dani answered, Jamie began to pull away from her flat.

“Yeah,” Dani responded. She went on to explain, “I don’t want to get too sappy before we even make it to the restaurant, but being with you has been the best time of my life. When I’m with you, it feels like I can do anything, even if it terrifies me. I just feel like nothing can go wrong, and I cherish every second of it”

Jamie reached out with her one hand and grabbed Dani’s hand while she maintained control of the car with the other, “You’ve always seemed pretty dauntless to me, and I cherish all our time together too.”

Dani squeezed her hand, and Jamie glanced at her before she focused back on the road. Dani spoke again, this time she changed the topic, “So what all do you have planned for tonight? I mean you said to dress casually so I’m curious.”

“And spoil the whole evening?” Jamie asked, fake hurt in her voice, but she did say, “Dress code is casual because my plan includes a not so fancy restaurant. I promise it’s romantic though. I swear I wouldn’t take you to some non high-end place if it wasn’t worth it.”

“I believe you,” Dani assured in that voice Jamie found all too calming, “Plus, I’m not complaining about not having to dress up. It’s nice to put on a pair of jeans and sneakers instead of slacks and dress shoes.” There was a momentary pause before Dani attempted to get more information out of Jamie, “So where’s this non high-end place located?”

Jamie shook her head, “I swear you’re more persistent than Flora, but I’m not breaking.” It was a half-truth, because if Dani pushed it much more, Jamie would probably cave and tell Dani exactly where she was taking her. Jamie thought it was a good idea, but now she was growing worried that Dani would find it stupid.

“I am not worse than Flora,” Dani defended, “You just told me the other day she asked you every hour you were there when I was coming next. I am nowhere near that bad. Just for that comment, I think you have to tell me now.”

“Alright, fine,” Jamie conceded. She took a deep breath and said, “I’m taking you back to that ice cream and drive-in place we went to on the night you said you realized you fancied me.”

\--------------------------

There were sitting at a table at the drive-in restaurant, albeit the temperature was bordering on being too cold to sit outside. Dani didn’t care though. She was filled with a warmth that stemmed from the fact Jamie remembered that the first time at this place was when she realized she was falling for the gardener. 

They had just gotten their ice cream after their main food, consisting of what Dani assumed was a British play on American food. It was your typical American food, burger and fries, although Dani had opted for chicken tenders, while Jamie had a burger. 

“You know,” Dani began while she put some ice cream on her spoon, “This is actually really nice. I think you nailed this whole romantic date thing.”

Jamie smiled, “You really think so? Right before I told you this was where we were going, I was scared you’d think it was dumb.”

“Jamie,” Dani drew out as she leaned towards Jamie and rested her head on the gardener's shoulder, “This is the most thoughtful date I’ve ever been on.” And while she didn’t have many experiences with dating others, this date far surpassed anything Edmund had ever done, and the night wasn’t even over yet. 

“I’m glad you think so,” Jamie murmured. She turned her head and placed a kiss in Dani’s head, “I just want everything to be perfect.”

“Nothing is ever perfect, babe,” Dani responded, “But it’s the imperfections of life that make it so much more worth it.” 

Jamie chuckled, and Dani felt it resonate through her body, “You’re always there with a somewhat philosophical response aren’t you?”

Dani ate a spoonful of ice cream before she answered, “Can't let my minor from college go to waste.”

“So you torment me with it?” Jamie joked before she ate some of her ice cream. 

“You love it and I know it,” Dani retorted. There had been many nights where they had gotten into philosophical discussions that went late into the night, albeit they tended to drift towards other things halfway through. 

Jamie conceded, “Okay maybe I think it’s hot when you try to tell me about, shit what was it? Sartre’s idea of freedom?”

“That’s what I thought,” Dani stated before she confirmed, “And yes it was about Sartre the other week. Nothing like French existentialism.” 

“God, how did I manage to fall in lo-” Jamie started to say but then quickly stopped and her whole body tensed. 

Dani picked her head off of Jamie’s shoulder, “What was that?” She could see that Jamie was still tense at the question and her question hung in the air. She continued to stare at Jamie, who averted eye contact. While she waited, she couldn’t help but acknowledge the warmth that had flooded her body at what Jamie had been potentially about to say. 

A few seconds later, Jamie made eye contact with Dani, and when she spoke her tone was nervous, “I wasn’t supposed to say anything yet. I had something planned out for when we were done here and it was going to be perfect.” 

Dani raised her brow, and questioned, “And what did I just say about stuff being perfect?” When Jamie just nodded her head and didn’t say anything else, so Dani continued, “We can still do whatever it is you had planned, but it doesn’t have to go exactly to plan. No plan ever does.”

Jamie nodded again, but this time she responded, her body slightly more relaxed, “You’re right, but I had this whole speech planned out.”

“Well, I’d like to hear that speech,” Dani told Jamie with nothing but sincerity in her voice, “It’ll be great even if you accidentally let something slip.” She was still trying to assure Jamie everything was alright, but she couldn’t help the smile on her face, “And, if it helps, I feel the same way.”

“Alright then,” Jamie said before she stood up and looked down at Dani, both with cups of ice cream grasped in their hands. 

Dani just gazed up at Jamie and waited for her girlfriend to collect her thoughts. In the meantime, she started to eat her ice cream again. 

“I had this whole thing planned out in my head, but I don’t think it does justice. So here in this drive-in parking lot,” Jamie gestured around them, “I’m going to give it my best shot.” She cleared her throat and dove into her speech, “I don’t open myself up much to people, but with you it was so fucking easy. It was almost scary, especially after we started dating for real. It terrified me how easily I could share bits and pieces of myself with you. I’ve never had a long term relationship before, and I know we’ve only been dating for a little over a month, but I really think we’re meant to last. And I know it might be too soon, in fact Rebecca told me it was probably too soon when we were talking about tonight, but I frankly don’t care.” Jamie hesitated before she concluded, “I’m pretty in love with you it turns out.”

Jamie stood there then, and fiddled with her ice cream while she waited for a response from Dani. It was a nervous habit that Dani had picked up on; Jamie would play with whatever was in her hands when she was nervous. 

Dani reached out with the hand that wasn’t holding her ice cream, and placed it on top of Jamie’s hand that was holding her spoon, “Hey, that was beautiful. Rebecca was wrong too, it’s not too soon, cause I’m pretty in love with you too.” She tried to mimic Jamie’s accent with the final sentence in an attempt to get Jamie to relax, and it worked; Jamie seemed to relax at the mockery. 

“You’re pretty shit at making fan of my accent,” Jamie noted, and a chuckle escaped her. 

“Even worse than my tea-making abilities?” Dani questioned. She still couldn’t get the hang of making tea no matter how many times Jamie tried to teach her. 

Jamie shook her head, “Nothing is worse than your ability to make tea.”

“That's what I thought,” Dani said before a smirk formed on her face as she asked, “Now how about we get out of here?”

——

A few hours later, at Jamie’s apartment, they were laying together in Jamie’s bed. Dani was absentmindedly drawing patterns in Jamie’s exposed skin, while Jamie tried to act like she wasn’t falling asleep. 

Dani’s thoughts wandered towards the fact that she had work tomorrow, but none of her work clothes at her current location. This meant one of two things: she’d have to go home tonight and leave the bliss that was being with Jamie all night, or she’d have to wake up super early to be able to make it to work. 

Jamie must’ve realized this because she mumbled, “Are you leaving tonight?”

Dani placed a kiss on Jamie’s shoulder before she answered, “Still deciding. I don’t have any dress clothes here.”

Jamie, whom Dani realized was half-asleep, whispered out her response, “Clothes are dumb. You should stay here.”

“But I have to teach tomorrow,” Dani countered, although she couldn’t see herself getting out of Jamie’s bed anytime in the near future. 

“Screw that. I’m more important,” Jamie responded. She reached around for Dani’s hand and when she found it, she intertwined their fingers together loosely, “There, now you can’t go anywhere.”

Dani smiled at how different Jamie was when she was practically asleep, or even quite possible already asleep; Dani couldn’t tell. It was just another thing to add to the list of things Dani had fallen in love with about Jamie, even if it meant she’d half to wake up at the crack of dawn just to make it to work on time. It was worth it if Jamie was involved. 

“Please don’t go,” Jamie pleaded when Dani hadn’t said anything. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Dani told Jamie, and she felt Jamie relax in her arms at the admission. There was a momentary pause before she added, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Poppins,” Jamie mumbled in response while she cuddled closer to Dani, “G’night.”

Dani squeezed Jamie’s hand, as their hands were still intertwined, “Goodnight Jamie.”

A few moments later a soft snore came from Jamie, and Dani knew that she was asleep. She moved herself so she could place a kiss on Jamie’s temple before she settled back into the spot she had been before, and she shut her eyes. 

As she drifted off to sleep, all Dani could think about was how right everything was in that moment. It was by far the happiest she had ever been in her life, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's it my friends. it has bee so much fun sharing this story with you all. this story definitely changed a fair amount from the plot outline i had typed up in my notes app, but i'm glad with how it turned out. i had originally planned for something with more angst, but then i thought about how at the core of this story it's a holiday falling in love fic, and i decided major angst had no place in it. it's a light story where it's just two women fake dating and then falling in love along the way. 
> 
> this is my second ever completed multi-chapter fic on here, and i'm so happy i managed to get it all written, even if it ended up ending on an odd numbered chapter (i don't like odd numbers djgjhsdj). thank you all for your lovely comments throughout the story. i read them all, and you guys were all so kind. i'm not sure if i'll write about damie again, because i really need to finish some other works, but who knows. once again, it was great to share this story with you all! if you ever want to talk, you can find me on twitter @razzspie

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think! you can find me on twitter @razzspie if you ever want to yell at me for events in the fic


End file.
